History ScrewedByTheNetwork / Music

* Swedish DJ Avicii is a very unique example of an artist being so AdoredByTheNetwork that he gets screwed over for that reason. In the summer of 2013, he released a song called "Wake Me Up!" Feedback of the song was overwhelmingly positive, and it quickly became the biggest EDM crossover hit of all time. After the song finished its run, it was time for Avicii to release his follow-up single, "Hey Brother." The song was destined to be another smash-hit for him...had it not been for stubborn radio executives who refused to move on to the next single. This practically crippled any momentum the song had off the back of its predecessor, and instead the song slowly limped to #16 before plummeting down the charts. Nowadays, Avicii's non-"Wake Me Up!" discography has been practically blacklisted from American radio stations, all out of adoration for his one monster hit. Sadly, these same radio executives might have killed him--he ended up retiring in 2016 and killing himself two years later, the enforced one-hit wonder stigma being alleged to have sent him to his death.
* The only reason Music/{{Psy}}'s "Gangnam Style" was unable to dethrone Music/Maroon5's "One More Night" on the Hot 100 was because radio executives wouldn't play the song on high rotation out of the assumption that a pop rap song sung in a foreign language would be perceived as a novelty and not resonate well with radio listeners. "One More Night" was the top radio song during its reign at #1. Rumor has it that "One More Night" was deliberately overplayed to ensure "Gangnam Style" wouldn't ascend to the top.

* The release of ''Music/{{Queen}}'s Greatest Hits, Pix and Flix'', a multimedia project intended to celebrate the band's 10th anniversary, was badly botched in the United States by WEA (Creator/{{Warner|Bros}} - Creator/{{Elektra|Records}} - Creator/{{Atlantic|Records}}), with Warner Books passing on ''Greatest Pix'' and Warner Home Video attempting to make ''Greatest Flix'' a rental-only release against Queen's explicit wishes. Only ''Greatest Hits'' would see release under WEA through Elektra Records; ''Greatest Pix'' was ultimately published by Quartet Books the next spring, while ''Greatest Flix'' was released the same year as ''Greatest Hits'', as part of [[Creator/{{EMI}} Thorn EMI Video's]] North American launch slate. Amazingly, Queen didn't consider parting ways with WEA immediately; the last straw came with how Elektra handled their subsequent album, ''Hot Space''. Freddie Mercury was reportedly so incensed, he spent the next year buying out the band's contract with Elektra.

* Music/{{Kesha}}'s song "Die Young" was yanked from several radio stations after the Sandy Hook massacre, as the title evoked the image of the 20 children being shot to death in the school. This, even though the song had nothing to do with actually dying young - the lyrics were about partying while you're still alive to enjoy it.
* Music/TaylorSwift fulfilled her contract (for six albums plus a year after the last album) with her original record label, Big Machine Records, in November 2018. She had been trying to buy her master recordings from them for years and wanted to purchase them when she left Big Machine. There were negotiations to re-sign her at Big Machine but she was only given the option to get her old masters for each new album she produced. Creator/RepublicRecords (a subdivision of Creator/UniversalMusicGroup) was willing to give her the masters with no strings attached so she signed with them. Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta [[https://twitter.com/scottborchetta/status/1145504248697958402 has even admitted that she was never given the opportunity]] to purchase her masters. It's something that's fairly common for artists to do when they leave record labels, as Music/{{Rihanna}} did in 2016. Swift said she had made peace with leaving her masters with Big Machine knowing that the label would be sold without her (she was bringing in about half their entire revenue) but had an issue with the buyer of the label in summer 2019. It was sold to Scooter Braun's company Ithaca Holding. Braun has never liked her and she doesn't like him and now owns her life's work. Borchetta texted her the night before to tell her it was being sold to Braun and she learned the news the day of on the news since she was in London and was asleep when he sent the text. Her father, Scott, owned 4% of Big Machine prior to its sale and was invited to participate in a conference call announcing the news the week before but declined (he had one of her lawyers on the call) because he would have to sign a non disclosure agreement and didn't want to put himself in the situation of having to keep a secret from her.

** A similar story happened to fellow Japanese band Music/CrystalLake, who signed on to Artery Records to promote the album True North. Then Artery did nothing but sat on the band and prevented them from touring America. Thankfully, strong support from the local Japanese metal/hardcore scene, several European appearances, and their song [[SignatureSong Apollo]] going viral, prompted Sharptone Records [[NetworkToTheRescue to sign Crystal Lake and heavily promote them.]]

* CountryMusic artist Darryl Worley has been screwed over by having ''four'' different labels close unexpectedly on him. First Creator/DreamWorks Records in 2005 (the abrupt closure of which also killed off the careers of nearly every artist on their roster, with Music/TobyKeith and Emerson Drive being notable exceptions), 903 Music (owned by Music/NealMcCoy) in 2007, Stroudavarious in 2010, and Tenacity Records in 2012. The latter two closures resulted in [[MissingEpisode two unreleased albums]].

** Then they got some unexpected AdoredByTheNetwork treatment for their second album ''Feeling Strangely Fine'' when label execs jumped on "Closing Time" as a potential smash hit, promoting it early and often. While it worked beyond everyone's expectations, it was a ToughActToFollow for the follow-up singles, and, disappointed that they weren't matching the pace set by "Closing Time", MCA suddenly pulled both "Singing in My Sleep" and "Secret Smile" from radio even though they were gaining momentum ("Singing in My Sleep" was on the verge of making the Alternative Rock Top 10).

* Semisonic, one of the definitive OneHitWonder bands of TheNineties, was dogged by this all throughout their career, as related by drummer Jacob Slichter in his entertaining memoir ''So You Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star''. Originally named Pleasure, the band initially got caught in a bidding war between Creator/ElektraRecords and Creator/{{MCA}}, choosing to go with Elektra. Then as Slichter memorably summed it up, they started recording their debut album as Elektra band Pleasure, but finished it as MCA band Semisonic. They had to change names because they found another band called Pleasure. Then the Elektra exec shake-up mentioned above with They Might Be Giants also affected them, since they lost the label rep who signed them. Semisonic begged Elektra to release them from their contract, but the label dragged their feet for a while, forcing a pause in the recording sessions. When the album (''Great Divide'') finally came out, MCA chose "Down in Flames" as the lead single, even though none of the band members thought it was single-worthy. Radio passed on the song, and the video ran into problems with Creator/{{MTV}} because it depicted fire. After MCA basically gave up on the album (an AcclaimedFlop), "F.N.T.", the song that the band had ''wanted'' to be the lead single, was included on the soundtrack of ''Film/TheLongKissGoodnight'' and started getting some radio play, but MCA didn't care to support it. Then they got some unexpected AdoredByTheNetwork treatment for their second album ''Feeling Strangely Fine'' when label execs jumped on "Closing Time" as a potential smash hit, promoting it early and often. While it worked beyond everyone's expectations, it was a ToughActToFollow for the follow-up singles, and, disappointed that they weren't matching the pace set by "Closing Time", MCA suddenly pulled both "Singing in My Sleep" and "Secret Smile" from radio even though they were gaining momentum ("Singing in My Sleep" was on the verge of making the Alternative Rock Top 10). Not caring for the different musical direction the band chose for their third album ''All About Chemistry'', MCA largely ignored it and it only sold 58,000 copies.

* The only reason PSY's "Gangnam Style" was unable to dethrone Maroon 5's "One More Night" on the Hot 100 was because radio executives wouldn't play the song on high rotation out of the assumption that a pop rap song sung in a foreign language would be perceived as a novelty and not resonate well with radio listeners. "One More Night" was the top radio song during its reign at #1. Rumor has it that "One More Night" was deliberately overplayed to ensure "Gangnam Style" wouldn't ascend to the top.

* Happened ''twice'' to Music/RedHousePainters. The band was always at risk of being thrown off of Creator/FourADRecords because Mark Kozelek and Ivo Watts had clashing personalities (one of the most notorious in the industry). They were finally thrown off in 1996 over a quarrel over two guitar solos. Then they were picked up by Island Records who, caught in the merging of different labels, decided to drop the band and refuse to release their final album ''Old Ramon''. That album didn't see release until 2001 when Creator/SubPop records finally picked up.

* Singer/songwriter Music/NicoleAtkins was hit hard by this trope. Her 2007 debut ''Neptune City'' was highly acclaimed by music critics, with some even predicting she would be become the "next big thing." Unfortunately, her then-label Columbia Records unexpectedly [[ScheduleSlip delayed the album's release]] from July of that year to late October in order to give it further remastering. By which time any promotion she had gotten during the summer had long faded. The album, thus, failed to chart on the Billboard 200 and sold less than 50,000 copies overall. Needless to say, not long after, she left Columbia Records and jumped through several indie labels before finally creating her very own label (Oh Mercy Records) for her 2014 album ''Slow Phaser''.

* Swedish DJ Avicii is a very unique example or an artist being so AdoredByTheNetwork that he gets screwed over for that reason. In the summer of 2013, he released a song called "Wake Me Up!" Feedback of the song was overwhelmingly positive, and it quickly became the biggest EDM crossover hit of all time. After the song finished its run, it was time for Avicii to release his follow-up single, "Hey Brother." The song was destined to be another smash-hit for him...had it not been for stubborn radio executives who refused to move on to the next single. This practically crippled any momentum the song had off the back of its predecessor, and instead the song slowly limped to #16 before plummeting down the charts. Nowadays, Avicii's non-"Wake Me Up!" discography has been practically blacklisted from American radio stations, all out of adoration for his one monster hit. Sadly, these same radio executives might have killed him--he ended up retiring in 2016 and killing himself two years later, the enforced one-hit wonder stigma being alleged to have sent him to his death.

* Music/TaylorSwift fulfilled her contract (for six albums plus a year after the last album) with her original record label, Big Machine Records, in November 2018. She had been trying to buy her master recordings from them for years and wanted to purchase them when she left Big Machine. There were negotiations to resign her at Big Machine but she was only given the option to get her old masters for each new album she produced. Creator/RepublicRecords (a subdivision of Creator/UniversalMusicGroup) was willing to give her the masters with no strings attached so she signed with them. Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta [[https://twitter.com/scottborchetta/status/1145504248697958402 has even admitted that she was never given the opportunity]] to purchase her masters. It's something that's fairly common for artists to do when they leave record labels, as Music/{{Rihanna}} did in 2016. Swift said she had made peace with leaving her masters with Big Machine knowing that the label would be sold without her (she was bringing in about half their entire revenue) but had an issue with the buyer of the label in summer 2019. It was sold to Scooter Braun's company Ithaca Holding. Braun has never liked her and she doesn't like him and now owns her life's work. Borchetta texted her the night before to tell her it was being sold to Braun and she learned the news the day of on the news since she was in London and was asleep when he sent the text. Her father, Scott, owned 4% of Big Machine prior to its sale and was invited to participate in a conference call announcing the news the week before but declined (he had one of her lawyers on the call) because he would have to sign a non disclosure agreement and didn't want to put himself in the situation of having to keep a secret from her.

* Zigzagged with Slaughter to Prevail and Sumerian. Singer Alex Terrible revealed in an Instragram livestream that Slaughter to Prevail had several new songs written by mid 2019, but Sumerian thought the band was punching below their weight. Sumerian did release the nu-metal tinged song "Agony" in 2019 and it quickly got over one million views. While touring 2019 and 2020, Slaughter premiered a new song "Demolisher" live and had a video made, but Sumerian apparently didn't have too much faith in the song, but was still promoting their merch and their previous album ''Misery Sermon''. Alex uploaded the video for "Demolisher" to his personal Youtube and it gained over a million views ''very fast.'' Sumerian eventually released the song on streaming platforms and starting promoting the band again.
* [[https://old.reddit.com/r/Metalcore/comments/iz0gy0/the_browning_and_earache_records/ Outright stated from Johnny McBee of The Browning fame.]] Long story short, Earache has been going through and removing a lot of back catalogs of music from streaming services, all while not paying their roster royalties for the music they made. This isn't unique to The Browning, as several other artists, such as Music/{{Decapitated}}, have had their music removed from streaming services. Earache Records hasn't responded any of the criticisms against them and have been blocking anyone on social media who has been vocal about their poor treatment of their musicians.

* Music/{{Chicago}} was hit pretty badly by this from Creator/ColumbiaRecords. After the release of the well-received ''Chicago XI'', which continued the band's winning streak throughout UsefulNotes/TheSeventies, their manager convinced CBS to sign them to a massive contract extension where the label agreed to give them a million dollars for each album produced. However, it came at the worst possible moment, as co-lead Terry Kath committed suicide not long after the extension was signed. CBS then started to have second thoughts when ''Hot Streets'' and ''Chicago 13'' failed to impress. They subsequently screwed ''Chicago XIV'' with InvisibleAdvertising, with no concert tour or singles to promote it. Its failure cost CBS more than they expected, so they opted to buy out Chicago from their contract. A [[ContractualObligationProject contractually obligated]] GreatestHitsAlbum, the second volume after their best-selling first, was dumped to the holiday season of 1981, where it had Music/{{Queen}}[='=]s Greatest Hits album to compete with. Thankfully for Chicago, their misfortune wouldn't last long as they would sign with Creator/WarnerBrosRecords for ''Chicago 16''.

* Semisonic, one of the definitive OneHitWonder bands of TheNineties, was dogged by this all throughout their career, as related by drummer Jacob Slichter in his entertaining memoir ''So You Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star''. Originally named Pleasure, the band initially got caught in a bidding war between Creator/ElektraRecords and Creator/{{MCA}}, choosing to go with Elektra. Then as Slichter memorably summed it up, they started recording their debut album as Elektra band Pleasure, but finished it as MCA band Semisonic. They had to change names because they found another band called Pleasure. Then the Elektra exec shake-up mentioned above with They Might Be Giants also affected them, since they lost the label rep who signed them. Semisonic begged Elektra to release them from their contract, but the label dragged their feet for a while, forcing a pause in the recording sessions. When the album (''Great Divide'') finally came out, MCA chose "Down in Flames" as the lead single, even though none of the band members thought it was single-worthy. Radio passed on the song, and the video ran into problems with Creator/{{MTV}} because it depicted fire. After MCA basically gave up on the album (an AcclaimedFlop), "F.N.T.", the song that the band had ''wanted'' to be the lead single, was included on the soundtrack of ''Film/TheLongKissGoodnight'' and started getting some radio play, but MCA didn't care to support it. Then they got some unexpected AdoredByTheNetwork treatment for their second album ''Feeling Strangely Fine'' when label execs jumped on "Closing Time" as a potential smash hit, promoting it early and often. While it worked beyond everyone's expectations, it was a ToughActToFollow for the follow-up singles, and, disappointed that they weren't matching the pace set by "Closing Time", MCA pulled both "Singing in My Sleep" and "Secret Smile" from radio even though they were gaining momentum ("Singing in My Sleep" was on the verge of making the Alternative Rock Top 10). Not caring for the different musical direction the band chose for their third album ''All About Chemistry'', MCA largely ignored it and it only sold 58,000 copies.

* Semisonic, one of the definitive OneHitWonder bands of TheNineties, was dogged by this all throughout their career, as related by drummer Jacob Slichter in his entertaining memoir ''So You Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star''. Originally named Pleasure, the band initially got caught in a bidding war between Creator/ElektraRecords and Creator/{{MCA}}, choosing to go with Elektra. Then as Slichter memorably summed it up, they started recording their debut album as Elektra band Pleasure, but finished it as MCA band Semisonic. They had to change names because they found another band called Pleasure. Then the Elektra exec shake-up mentioned above with They Might Be Giants also affected them, since they lost the label rep who signed them. Semisonic begged Elektra to release them from their contract, but the label dragged their feet for a while, partly leading to an unplanned break in the recording sessions for the album. When the album (''Great Divide'') finally came out, MCA chose "Down in Flames" as the lead single, even though none of the band members thought it was single-worthy. Radio passed on the song, and the video ran into problems with Creator/{{MTV}} because it depicted fire. After MCA basically gave up on the album (an AcclaimedFlop), "F.N.T.", the song that the band had ''wanted'' to be the lead single, was included on the soundtrack of ''Film/TheLongKissGoodnight'' and started getting some radio play, but MCA didn't care to support it. Then they got some unexpected AdoredByTheNetwork treatment for their second album ''Feeling Strangely Fine'' when label execs jumped on "Closing Time" as a potential smash hit, promoting it early and often. While it worked beyond everyone's expectations, it was a ToughActToFollow for the follow-up singles, and, disappointed that they weren't matching the pace set by "Closing Time", MCA pulled both "Singing in My Sleep" and "Secret Smile" from radio even though they were gaining momentum ("Singing in My Sleep" was on the verge of making the Alternative Rock Top 10). Not caring for the different musical direction the band chose for their third album ''All About Chemistry'', MCA largely ignored it and it only sold 58,000 copies.

* Semisonic, one of the definitive OneHitWonder bands of TheNineties, was dogged by this all throughout their career, as related by drummer Jacob Slichter in his entertaining memoir ''So You Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Star''. Originally named Pleasure, the band initially got caught in a bidding war between Creator/ElektraRecords and Creator/{{MCA}}, choosing to go with Elektra. Then as Slichter memorably summed it up, they started recording their debut album as Elektra band Pleasure, but finished it as MCA band Semisonic. They had to change names because they found another band called Pleasure. Then the Elektra exec shake-up mentioned above with They Might Be Giants also affected them, since they lost the label rep who signed them. Semisonic begged Elektra to release them from their contract, but the label dragged their feet for a while, partly leading to an unplanned break in the recording sessions for the album. When the album (''Great Divide'') finally came out, MCA chose "Down in Flames" as the lead single, even though none of the band members thought it was single-worthy. Radio passed on the song, and the video ran into problems with Creator/{{MTV}} because it depicted fire. After MCA basically gave up on the album (an AcclaimedFlop), "F.N.T.", the song that the band had ''wanted'' to be the lead single, was included on the soundtrack of ''Film/TheLongKissGoodnight'' and started getting some radio play, but MCA didn't care to support it. Then they got some unexpected AdoredByTheNetwork treatment for their second album ''Feeling Strangely Fine'' when label execs jumped on "Closing Time" as a potential smash hit, promoting it early and often. While it worked beyond everyone's expectations, it was a ToughActToFollow for the follow-up singles, and, disappointed that they weren't matching the pace set by "Closing Time", MCA pulled both "Singing in My Sleep" and "Secret Smile" from radio even though they were gaining momentum ("Singing in My Sleep" was on the verge of making the Alternative Rock Top 10). Not caring for the different musical direction the band chose for their third album ''All About Chemistry'', MCA largely ignored it and it only sold 58,000 copies.

* Semisonic, one of the definitive OneHitWonder bands of TheNineties, was dogged by this all throughout their career, as related by drummer Jacob Slichter in his entertaining memoir ''So You Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Star''. Originally named Pleasure, the band initially got caught in a bidding war between Creator/ElektraRecords and Creator/{{MCA}}, choosing to go with Elektra. Then as Slichter memorably summed it up, they started recording their debut album as Elektra band Pleasure, but finished it as MCA band Semisonic. They had to change names because they found another band called Pleasure. Then the Elektra exec shake-up mentioned above with They Might Be Giants also affected them, since they lost the label rep who signed them. Semisonic begged Elektra to release them from their contract, but the label dragged their feet for a while before giving in. When their debut album ''Great Divide'' came out, MCA chose "Down in Flames" as the lead single, even though none of the band members thought it was single-worthy. Radio passed on the song, and the video ran into problems with Creator/{{MTV}} because it depicted fire. After MCA basically gave up on the album, making it an AcclaimedFlop, "F.N.T.", the song that the band had ''wanted'' to be the lead single, was included on the soundtrack of ''Film/TheLongKissGoodnight'' and ironically started getting some radio play, but MCA didn't care to support it. Then they got some unexpected AdoredByTheNetwork treatment for their second album ''Feeling Strangely Fine'' when label execs jumped on "Closing Time" as a potential smash hit, promoting it early and often. While it worked beyond everyone's expectations, it was a ToughActToFollow for the follow-up singles, and, disappointed that they weren't matching the pace set by "Closing Time", MCA pulled both "Singing in My Sleep" and "Secret Smile" from radio even though they were gaining momentum ("Singing in My Sleep" was on the verge of making the Alternative Rock Top 10). Not caring for the different musical direction the band chose for their third album ''All About Chemistry'', MCA largely ignored it and it only sold 58,000 copies.