Jermaine Dupri x TAG Records. When Jermaine Dupri was booted from his job at Def Jam earlier this year, there were rumors that Dupri’s deal with TAG Records was in jeopardy as well. Fortunately for Dupri, the Def Jam and TAG Body Spray collaboration was arranged as a separate deal and Dupri kept his job as President of TAG Records…for the time being.
The bottom line though is TAG Records is not doing so hot. Rumored reports are coming in from Proctor & Gamble (TAG Body spray owners) that due to a combination of the economic downturn and the lack of buzz surrounding TAG Record’s initial artist Q Da Kid, P&G budgets will tighten up in future media buys and promotions with TAG Records. Rumor also has it that Def Jam has plans to phase out Dupri’s involvement with TAG Records as well. In a January interview with Essence, Dupri stated the following about his future relationship with TAG and Def Jam:
I don’t know what’s going to happen and that’s the saddest part in dealing with these situations. They try to keep the group to hurt the person who brought these artists to them. The truth is, I can always find another artist but the artist can not find another me. I have to be in a forward motion. One of my biggest focuses is that if you want to do new things you can’t do old things. I can’t be around people that don’t motivate and that’s what happened: a slow motion of people living off checks with no excitement. I’m into excitement.
P&G spent over $10 million to fund the initial launch of TAG Records and used Q as the main spokesperson along with Dupri. This included a full print and TV ad campaign along with aggressive promotions with MTV. That initial campaign was launched over half a year ago and Q still has not released an album, the TAG Records blog is inactive, ad campaign is done with, and it seems like Q is the only one trying to keep TAG Records alive noting in his blog:
MUST SAY IVE BEEN DOING A GOOD JOB SO FAR THE ALBUM IS IN THE WORKS ,TAG RECORDS IS STILL INTACT AND BELIEVE ITS GONNA BE CLASSICAL!!!!!!!!!! -Q DA KID
TAG still promotes Q Da Kid online but now has moved on to a Battle of the MCs competition. As for other artists in the works or when Q will finally drop his album? We reached out to P&G and TAG Records but they had no comment. The real question will be….when Q drops the album will P&G have any money left to support the actual release?
According to 2008 sales of body spray across the industry, sales dropped over 23% and this was BEFORE the Recession. And with Jermaine Dupri no longer tied to Def Jam, does he have any more motivation to push the label or Q?
Great story. I wondered what happened to this deal.
So the real victim here is the artist – what a f'in surpris there eh? Q is left pushing for himself ” Q is the only one trying to keep TAG Records ” thats just sad
individual music licencing deals with artist is the way for corporations to go…not making record labels…record labels are whats wrong…not whats right.
agreed. the record label structure today is flawed. music biz needs to change as a whole to have any profitability to it for the 99% of artists who are not Hova or Kanye or 50. This is not a surprise to hear TAG is going down. It was a mess to begin with.
HAG Records in the house!!! This is no suprise here
On paper it's a solid idea. Split the costs of marketing and both parties can benefit. Problem is if no one cares about body spray or Q then there is a big problem.
The real reason I think this labeled flopped was because Jermaine Dupri does not have original ideas. He lives in a glass box. To solidify that point, take for instance Kanye West. Kanye started out on the hip hop tip then he ventured into some new shit (singing,, collaborating with other artists outside of hiphop, his fashion game, etc.) Kanye is and will stay relevant because he's a very eccentric and a different type of dude that's done a lot for modern hiphop by way of just being willing to do his own thing and not follow the status quo. Now Jermaine Dupri's not a very original dude. He's a stooge and a clone. If you look at his body of work, the shit is in the same lane, same style, boring, pedestrian, expected. In essence, I can't believe no one at Tag saw this coming. And lastly, pusing another boring rapper to make your company relevant in the public eye? Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Q's no more than a regular MC with ok rhyme skillz. There's millions way way nicer and with dope productions. What all these companies that's trying to push to the new urban market need to do is find the artists that are doing ground breaking shit that's far encompassing. Probably why Kanye is so popular with the MTV market. Have them be the flag bearers. Kanye West, Pharrell, maybe Ryan Leslie (might be a reach), and more. If you're a large company reading this shit, take heed. The world is ever changing and diverse. Nobody is hearing that pedestrian, Get money, Buy the bar shit type anymore…
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I dont even know who Q da Kid is all I kno is this was a terrible mistake and Jermaine Dupri should have known better
I believe Jermaine Dupree can bounce back from anything it’s all about chances. In life we all fall down but get back up again. It’s not the success that makes a great man and father but it’s the times when you missed it but continued to press your way. A good man will fall many times and make mistakes but he should examine what is it that gives him the drive in the first place that allowed him to do what he do? This is why I believe you have to search out for artist who reflects a new style of rap, people are tired of the bad rap but will enbrace the new with respect. My son has been rapping a long time and he hasn’t gotten the break yet but I know he will and I know he suppose to work with Jermaine Dupree. Give him a chance and I know God will turn things around for him!