For the most part, we only heard Megan Thee Stallion's point of view on the nasty split from her former label, 1501 Certified Entertainment. It was an extensive legal battle between the two parties and eventually, they went their separate ways. Now, after about a year and a half since losing the Houston superstar, label founder and CEO, Carl Crawford, is looking back on the ordeal with honesty. He spoke with Audiomack co-founder and veteran hip-hop media presence Brian Zisook about it and got into how much it affected him and his company. For those who don't know, Crawford started 1501 essentially by himself back in 2016. Per Zisook, he invested $6 million of his own funds to get this dream off the ground.
He was building recording studios and focusing on working with local artists in his hometown, that also being Houston. Megan Thee Stallion would sign in 2018 to a "360 deal," which is a contract known in music circles. It essentially means that the label gets a percentage of all of the streams of income artists can have. Merchandise, concerts, the music, of course, and more. It was just one reason why Megan would wind up departing. Today, Crawford admits that it wasn't the soundest contract and that he's doing things that benefit artists more. "I didn’t fully understand the business at the time. Back then, we just came in with a number—like us taking 40 percent of [her] net [profit]. That was just me not knowing the business."
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Megan Thee Stallion Leaves 1501 Certified Entertainment
Because of how popular and beloved she became; Carl Crawford saw how negative the narratives were around him. "I went from being seen as a hard-working athlete to the villain in music overnight," he said to Zisook. But like most things, it takes time to get a firmer grasp on the thing you are trying to accomplish. This nasty fallout has taught him a lot about how to run a label and he says he's going to be more hands on overall. "I don’t let anyone control what I’m doing anymore," he said.
He also says that he has a 10-person staff now compared to before where it was just him. While he didn't handle Megan Thee Stallion the best, he's been gaining the trust of artists and slowing rebuilding the brand. One of his most notable signees has been 19-year-old MC Luh Ceo, a Mississippi native who we have shouted out here on the site before. While this story may not win the Hotties over, it's nice to see that Crawford is starting over from square one and rebuilding the image around 1501 the right way. Megan has been independent since October 2023, although she does have a distributing deal with Warner Records.
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