Back in the days before the internet, people had to visit brick-and-mortar stores to buy the music they like, or wait for that moment when a music video is playing on the television.
With the internet, gone are those days.
With it, people can stream practically anything they want, wherever they are at the moment, using whatever device they have at the time. All they need, is a subscription to their favorite streaming service.
As for record labels, the internet is also making it easier for them to reach their intended audience. The thing is, with the internet, there can be some misunderstanding, or a mishap.
And this is what exactly happened, when an official-appearing R. Kelly collection provocatively titled "I Admit It" appeared on streaming services - including Spotify and Apple Music.
Sony Music, which owns the rights to much of the singer’s catalog, stressed that the release is not legitimate, and pulled the album a few hours after it first showed up on the streaming services.
Kelly was a fixture in pop and R&B for much of the 1990s and early 2000s, having released hugely successful singles like "I Believe I Can Fly", among others.
But this time, the I Admit It album appearing on the streaming services is a bootleg, and isn't supposed to be published.
This was confirmed by Sony Music, in which the record label said that the album by R. Kelly that managed to make its way to the internet is an unofficial release, even though the copyright line on the album reads "Legacy Recordings," which is Sony Music’s catalog division.
According to an attorney for R. Kelly, the singer isn't behind the release and that he "is having intellectual property stolen from him."
The 13-song album, which credited R. Kelly as the main writer with "D. Johnson" as producer, include titles like "Last Man Standing", "Where’s Love When You Need It", "Freaky Sensation", "Air", "I Got It", "Good Old Days", and "Planet".
Bootlegs have snuck onto major streaming services in the past, and were usually removed not long afterwards.
While there are thousands of songs uploaded to streaming platforms every single day, it's surprising that such a controversially titled unofficial release by a disgraced artist such as R. Kelly was posted on the world’s largest streaming platforms.
R. Kelly, once regarded as a talented artist, before it is determined that he has to at least serve 30 years in prison after being found guilty for sex trafficking and racketeering plus a conviction for producing child pornography.
Besides the multiple sexual-misconduct-related charges in 2021, he is also awaiting trial in other jurisdictions as well.
And the I Admit It album in question is a collection of previously released and unreleased material, which includes the latter years of R. Kelly’s recording career, as well as some unreleased tracks that have been floating around on the internet for more than a decade.
R. Kelly continued to release music as the allegations against him mounted in 2018 and 2019, sometimes through his label at the time, RCA, and some on SoundCloud and other services.
But in this album from him, includes one with a duration of 19 minutes.
The song he released to SoundCloud back in 2018, have lyrics where he essentially denies the longstanding sexual-misconduct allegations against him.
In the triptych, he also "confesses" to relationships with fans and straying on a partner, while obliquely acknowledging and protesting his long, sordid list of sex crime convictions.
"They're brainwashed, really? Kidnapped, really? Can't eat, really? Real talk, that s— sound silly," the lyric of one of the songs, referring to the testimony that he ran what amounted to a sex cult.
"I admit I done made some mistakes, and I have some imperfect ways [...] I admit it, I admit it I did [...] I done fucked with a couple of fans, I admit that I'm a gift and a curse, I admit that I don't go to church," he sang. "I admit I'm sorry for my sins."
He also sang that "I been fucked by so many damn managers, while they push me out front of these cameras, all this music I done gave to them, and now they play me like a fuckin' amateur [...] cancel my shows, that shit ain't right [...] take my career and turn it upside down."
"Got 23 lawyers, 3 or 4 managers, what am I doing? The only thing I have left is my voice, and now I have to use it for my protection, because they left me no choice, see my work has nothing to do with my private life."
After removing the album, a spokesperson for Spotify said that "this content has been removed from the platform at the request of the distributor."
