At the end of last year, the music industry was on the receiving end of a double-barreled blast of recrimination from one of Hollywood’s most revered creators. Issa Rae was in the midst of a victory lap, celebrating the final season of her acclaimed HBO series Insecure, when she casually described the music business as “probably the worst industry” she has “ever come across.” Her critique, delivered during an interview with The Los Angeles Times, escalated with steady force, rising from “conflicts of interest abound” to more blunt condemnation: The music business was populated by “crooks and criminals!” “It’s an abusive industry,” she concluded.
Rae’s sideswipe represented one of the most cutting critiques of the music business since veteran journalist Jim DeRogatis summed it up as “soulless and immoral” in September. Rae went on to say she hoped…
