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Jimmie Allen Fires Shots at Record Labels Picking Songs Artists Should Release

In a since-deleted tweet, country singer-songwriter Jimmie Allen fired shots at record labels for taking creative control from artists. The young breakout artist compared allowing record executives to pick songs for release to allowing someone with no carpentry experience to build a house.

It is unclear what sparked Allen’s ire earlier this morning, but it seems that something did. Allen took to Twitter to say. “Artists/writers/producers create the music but the people who don’t have a musically creative bone in their body control what songs the artists should record and put on their album? That’s like letting someone who never built a house, build your house. Makes no sense.”

Jimmie Allen Had a Rough Start

Jimmie Allen’s musical career had a rocky start. The chart-topping country singer moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2007 to chase his dreams. For the first few years in Music City, Allen struggled, often living in his car.

Despite the hardship, he continued to strive for stardom. Even after failing to make the cut on talent competition shows like “America’s Got Talent” and “American Idol”, Allen kept pushing on. While on those shows, Allen made some important connections, though.

One of those connections was with the winner of the tenth season of “American Idol”, Scott McCreery. The two would later tour together while Allen was promoting his debut album “Mercury Lane” which contained his hit single “Best Shot”.

Hard Work and Talent

Beyond the connections he made on the way, the most important ingredients in Allen’s success are his hard work and talent. In 2007, he put on a talent showcase for representatives for Broken Bow Records who quickly signed him to their Stony Creek imprint. According to the label’s executive vice president, signing Jimmie Allen was the fastest decision that they ever made.

Allen hasn’t let the success go to his head, though. In fact, he went so far as to take out a large personal loan in order to pay his band and crew during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A History of Overreach and Control

The history or modern music is full of examples of executives wresting creative control from artists. You can find examples of this in any genre in just about every era. A great recent example of this is the career arc of singer-songwriter Kesha (formerly Ke$ha). Once released from her overly controlling contract, she was able to write, perform, and release her own songs. Before that, she was bound to lend her voice to whatever the record company put in front of her.

In short, it is unsurprising that something like this is still happening today. Less surprising is Jimmie Allen’s anger at the the situation.