While many people have fond memories of and compliments for the late Clive Davis, others aren’t necessarily mourning him. Artists like TLC have had to essentially hold him hostage to get the money they deserved. People feel particularly sour about him continuing his party when Whitney Houston passed away. Now, neo-soul legend India.Arie is sharing her fair share of grievances over how Clive Davis handled artists in the past.
In a lengthy rant on Threads, she criticized the late mogul for his dealings with artists. For every success story, she argued, there were several others that had failed under his rule. A big part of it just comes from the natural order of a dominant record label. Given the nature of the music business, it’s not just Davis— it’s the industry as a whole. He was just a major fixture.
“ANY DOMINANT RECORD LABEL, at which Clive Davis was at THE TOP, for 5 decades, hurt LOTS of artists getting there,” India.Arie shared. “Watch what kind of archival interviews are about to come out. I would tell my story too, but mine is minimal compared to what you’re about to hear. When people talk about the music industry being so awful. It’s the record label executives that do that. As forward these words may be, this is the diplomatic version.”
India.Arie Takes On The Late Clive Davis and The Whole Music Industry In New Rant
Additionally, when fans encouraged India.Arie to be vocal about her experience, she largely deflected. Instead, she argued others have had it far worse, and we’re only scratching the surface with her. Ultimately, with the six music executives the R&B crooner had to deal with, Kedar Massenberg was the only “decent person.”
“But every artist has horror stories,” India.Arie said of people working with Clive Davis and other labels. “The point I’m making is: no record label executive who is dominant in this business is ethical.”
Meanwhile, Jermaine Dupri openly sang his praises. In fact, he called on BET to give Clive Davis his own extensive tribute at the 2026 BET Awards. “He really understood what Black music meant to the world and what Black music meant to the music business, right? That’s why his party was so popping,” Dupri explained. “He was a white man with a party that had all the Black executives, all the Black artists, all the Black music wanted to be at a Clive Davis party.”
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