Why Did Diddy Give His Entire Music Publishing Empire Back to Songwriters and Artists?

Diddy just gave away his music publishing empire, worth a fortune, back to the artists and songwriters who made the songs and he revealed why. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Direct from Hollywood with Ryan Seacrest.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
In an era when many artists are selling their catalogs
for hundreds of millions of dollars, hip hop mogul Diddy
recently went in the opposite direction by giving away all
the publishing rights he owned back to the artists and
songwriters responsible for each song, potentially forfeiting a nine figure payday.
It's an incredibly generous and unprecedented move, so much so
that people are accusing him of doing it as a
publicity stunt or pr move. But did, he tells Variety,

(00:26):
it's just doing the right thing. We as an industry,
we have to look in the mirror and make a
shift forward. It's about evolving, leading by example and reforming
an industry that needs it in a world that needs reform.
One thing I do want people to know is that
this was decided about two years ago. All the legal
stuff just got taken care of. Now it is not
a publicity stunt. Ditty's the love album Off the Grid

(00:48):
and its lead single Another One of Me feature on
the Weekend twenty one. Savage in French Montana's out Now

Speaker 1 (00:53):
That's Direct from Hollywood