Nicki Minaj and her team have been called out by social media influencer and dance Donte Colley for moves that he put together in a viral video to her song "FTCU." Supporters of Donte eventually began to tag him in clips from Nicki's Pink Friday 2 Tour in which her dancers were using pieces of his dance routine on stage. He allegedly spoke with someone from Minaj's team and was offered under $100 and concert tickets for a meet and greet with Nicki, which he declined. In this episode, we break down the ongoing risk creators take by posting their talents and ideas on social media, while also addressing the negative impact of hive mentality from fans that will attack anyone for speaking less than savory about their favorite artists.

In this episode, the host J Nolan analyzes new statements from Joe Budden where he claims that Cardi B is afraid to drop her album and declares the female rap wave as over. We take a critical dive into the opinions of Joe while also debunking many of his theories in real-time to offer the listens further insight about the music industry as a whole, which is facing numerous challenges.

In 2023, selling pure albums and singles seems to be a very controversial topic. Lloyd Banks openly retired from music a few years ago, to which his fans pleaded with him to return. Now that he's back, the music community is debating whether or not his next mixtape should be sold for $100.

This conversation has even made it to the music production community with music producer, rapper, and content creator Curtiss King electing to remove his music from streaming platforms with the intentions of selling his new album exclusively through a platform called EVEN. This decision has brought much scrutiny in his direction, even causing fellow music producer and educator Busy Works Beats to refer to him as a scammer.

In episode 8 of the Pen Game Elite Podcast, host J Nolan will break down how opposing ideologies are causing the greater music community to become more disjointed than ever. DIY music creators are at a crossroads, being forced to choose between taking steps to monetize their music and build an equitable business plan for their careers, or focus on producing vanity metrics in hopes that it will one day yield financial gains.

Rapper Jack Harlow has launched an exclusive tour experience for fans in his home state of Kentucky. For the 3rd installment of his 'No Place Like Home Tour', he will be performing in 6 cities across the state and offering fans exclusive access to him with additional events and perks from joining his Private Garden Membership.

Fans that join will gain early entry into tour venues, enjoy private pre-show parties, retain 'passport stamps' on their membership, and gain access to other exclusive events at a later time. With major acts like Usher embracing residencies and indie acts like LaRussell doing exclusive concerts inviting fans into his backyard, it looks like the traditional touring business is about to change for forward thinking artists.

UPDATE: News recently broke that Spotify is planning to create a 'minimum threshold' of streams for artists to hit before their music can be paid royalties. Many music creators are concerned that this will decrease hard earned money, regardless of the amount, that artists should be receiving.

In a recent interview on the BagFuel podcast, Grammy-winning producer Bangladesh explained his longstanding dispute with Kelis over their 2006 hit "Bossy."

After going back and forth with her former label 1501 Entertainment, Megan Thee Stallion is now an independent artist. Launching her new company, Hot Girl Productions, her new single "Cobra" delves deeper into the struggles she's endured over the past 3 years. In this episode, we break it all down.

Chicago rapper G Herbo is suing his former manager, Joseph "JB" Bowden for $40 million. He's accusing him and the label Machine Entertainment of taking advantage of him since he signed with them as a minor. Herbo recently presented JB with a release agreement that would render him a free agent, however, his former manager is now saying the document was signed under duress which would nullify the agreement. Let's talk about it!

Taylor Swift's album catalog was sold by her record label a few years ago, before she had the opportunity to buy it back. Since that time, she hired a legal team to scour her recording contract with Big Machine and they found a provision that would allow her to re-record her masters after 7 years of each album released.
Most artists in the music industry never exercise this option, however, Taylor Swift has already re-done and re-released 4 albums from her catalog. The latest, '1989' (Taylor's Version) just broke Spotify's record for the most streams on an album within 24 hours, meaning her fans are now disregarding the older version and playing the new one as if they've never heard it before.

Due to Taylor's success with these remakes, we're now hearing that the major labels such as Universal, Sony, and Warner Music are now trying to revise their artists' contracts to prevent this from ever happening again. They're now negotiating to change these clauses from 7 year periods to the upwards of 10, 20, or even 30 years before an artist can remake their masters and own them outright. Tune into my latest episode of the Pen Game Elite Podcast for more specifics.

News recently broke that Spotify is planning to create a 'minimum threshold' of streams for artists to hit before their music can be paid royalties. Many music creators are concerned that this will decrease hard earned money, regardless of the amount, that artists should be receiving. In this episode, J Nolan breaks down what we know so far and how this will inevitably impact the independent community the hardest.