In the aftermath of the controversy surrounding his remarks about dancehall artiste Skillibeng, veteran music executive Murray Elias has taken a step back from one of his statements. In an interview with Prism Marketing Consultants, Elias admitted to speaking out of turn when he claimed that Skillibeng had been dropped from RCA’s talent roster.
Elias acknowledged that he had made the statement without conducting the necessary checks and apologized to Skillibeng for any confusion caused. He stated, “I spoke out of turn about Skillibeng being dropped based on what I was told, without doing the requisite checks. I have not found any evidence to support the claim, and for that, I retract the statement and apologize to him.”
However, Elias remained firm in his assessment of Skillibeng’s track “Whap Whap,” asserting that it did not achieve commercial success. To support his stance, Elias presented data from Mediabase, a subscription-based platform tracking digital record spins. The figures indicated that Skillibeng’s song had accumulated only 3,500 spins on commercial radio over its lifetime. In comparison, Teejay’s “Drift” received 2,032 spins in a single week, and Tyla’s “Wata” garnered an impressive 21,000 spins (one week) for the week ending January 21, 2024.
Highlighting the distribution of spins, Elias noted that the majority of “Whap Whap” spins—1,000 to be exact—came from New York’s Hot 97 FM, with less impact on other major U.S. outlets. Drawing further comparisons within the dancehall genre, he presented data on Sean Paul’s past hits, emphasizing that Skillibeng’s record did not even compare to the commercial success of Paul’s renowned tracks. At its peak, “Get Busy” had over 7,000 weekly spins and “Temperature” enjoyed similar numbers on commercial radio. Although Wayne Wonder’s “No Letting Go” didn’t quite compare, it still did very well. For additional context, Sean Paul’s “Get Busy” has amassed 466,000 commercial spins over its lifetime, while Skillibeng’s “Whap Whap” has only 3,500 spins.
Elias concluded by asserting that, based on the provided data, Skillibeng’s record did not yield a profit for his company. He explained, “Based on my own experience of the type of capital injection required to promote a record properly on the commercial market, Skilli’s record would be considered a ‘lose-money’ project so far.”
In his closing remarks, Mr. Murray Elias emphasized the necessity of uncomfortable conversations within the industry, stating that they contribute to a better understanding of how the business works and can pave the way for a more suitable roadmap for the industry’s future.
