Inside Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Decision to Give His Publishing Rights to Bad Boy Artists

variety.com:

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Sean “Puff Daddy/Diddy” Combs’ decision to give artists and songwriters the publishing rights that he owns on songs from his 1990s powerhouse label Bad Boy, confirmed last week, was surprising, to put it mildly, and possibly unprecedented in its scale.

At a time when music catalogs are routinely selling for nine figures and awareness of publishing’s value is at an all-time high, the decision to reassign his rights on those songs — many of which were hits — to the artists and songwriters is highly unusual, even for a man whose net worth was estimated by Forbes last year to be nearly a billion dollars. “It’s just doing the right thing,” Combs told Variety last week. “I think that we as an industry, and as a people, 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.” Bad Boy Records, founded by Combs in 1993, is one of the most successful hip-hop and R&B labels of its era, with multiple platinum and gold releases by the Notorious B.I.G., Ma$e, Craig Mack, Faith Evans, 112, the Lox and Combs himself; later signings include Shyne, Danity Kane, French Montana and Janelle Monae.

The label continues to be active, although not at the same pace as the ‘90s and ‘00s, with recent releases including Machine Gun Kelly’s 2022 outing “Mainstream Sellout,” Monae’s “The Age of Pleasure” and, coming on Friday, Combs’ first solo album since 2006, “The Love Album: Off the Grid.” “I’ll tell you one thing that I do want people to know,” he continued. “This was done, like, two years ago.