{"id":2502164,"date":"2026-07-14T20:40:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2502164"},"modified":"2026-07-14T20:40:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:40:36","slug":"futures-strange-new-album-the-real-me-makes-me-worry-about-the-state-of-music-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/futures-strange-new-album-the-real-me-makes-me-worry-about-the-state-of-music-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Future’s Strange New Album ‘The Real Me’ Makes Me Worry About The State of Music Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

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How is an artist supposed to make their money nowadays? Touring is the usual cash cow, but concert tickets are dwindling slightly. Merch doesn\u2019t rake in the big bucks in the same way. Long gone are the days when people would actually pay for the music they claim to love. The music industry just doesn\u2019t have money like that anymore. As a result, the artist has switched roles with big corporations, trying to sell their latest records for brand sponsorships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s dreadful to think about, but an artist\u2019s work has essentially become just another portfolio<\/a> to sell. So stars are selling their masters outright to collect a single lump sum of cash. It\u2019s morbid to think how little ownership over your work matters, but unfortunately it works out for both sides. An artist wants a little more than passive income. These media conglomerates and trust-fund companies exist solely to capitalize on consolidated assets. Owning an artist\u2019s songs to chuck in an ad without having to deal with the hassle of the artist is golden.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back in 2022, Billboard<\/em> reported<\/a> that Future sold the publishing for 612 songs from 2004 to 2020 to Influence Media Partners, an investment group backed by BlackRock and Warner Music Group. He netted around $65-$75 million, all while maintaining masters for future recordings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t say if it\u2019s worth it for Future to sell his art to the evil AI surveillance conglomerate. But I do know he is a hustler at heart. So I suspect he\u2019ll keep churning out records for the foreseeable future so he can amass paydays for a decade\u2019s worth of work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Future Puts up a Muddled Mess of An Album with \u2018The Real Me\u2019<\/h2>\n

I couldn\u2019t help but think about this reality when listening to Future\u2019s bizarre, unfocused The Real Me<\/em>. Combing through the album felt extremely impersonal, lacking the soul bursting through trap beats. We know Future to be prolific with his recordings, so I wouldn\u2019t doubt if he had a good bulk of these songs kicking around in the vault. If he is making albums to sell for a lump sum later, why let your assets collect dust in a hard drive somewhere when you can just chuck \u2018em on an album?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Much of The Real Me<\/em> is Future coloring within the lines, utilizing a lot of the same burnt, rubbery 808s throughout the records. It\u2019s evident that he\u2019s running out of ways to rhyme about smashing women overseas in a cool way and not just an \u2018I\u2019m cripplingly lonely\u2019 kind of way (I prefer the latter from him, feels a little more honest). When Future declares, \u201cThis not for the radio\u201d<\/em>, he doesn\u2019t even sound like he believes it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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