Dave Got His Zach Bryan Diss Track Put Back On Youtube, Then It Got Taken Down Again Because It Turns Out Josh Richards Signed A Deal With Warner Music When He Was 19, So Dave Promised A New Diss Track Within 24 Hours
Two nights ago now (Tuesday, election night) Dave dropped "Smallest Man" - his and Josh Richards' diss track directed at Zach Bryan.
It was surprisingly vicious, and at five minutes in length, was filled with numerous scathing accusations and knocks on the country superstar.
Dave woke up and went right on the attack, promoting the song like a young hungry soundclap rapper.
A few hours later, the song was down.
Pulled on Youtube, and Spotfiy, Warner Music Group had issued a DCMA strike at Youtube, (and Spotify) for copyright infringement, and as a result, Youtube (and Spotify) both pulled the song down on their platform.
Dave went back on the attack, which I blogged about Wednesday afternoon.
And as I wrote then, anybody who knows ANYTHING about Dave knows that the last thing in the world you do when he's on the attack, is poke the bear.
Let sleeping dogs lie, as the famous adage goes.
Nope. Zach Bryan blocked everybody at Barstool, and his music label made the song a way bigger deal by not only paying attention to it, but having it pulled.
Then, late this afternoon, came news that the appeal to the copyright claim had been approved, and the song was once again back on Youtube, and going back on the other platforms.
But just two hours later, it was back down again…
What in the fucking world reason did it get pulled a second time?
Dave explained-
I was texting with Dave after it got taken down the first time, trying to figure out the reason behind it getting yanked. (He's coming on Barstool Backstage to discuss this whole thing, so tune in). Even our Director of Rights and Clearances, Kaymo, had no idea what Youtube's reasoning was. Nobody had a clue as of then, but Dave mentioned that Josh had signed a music deal with Warner Music Group when he was 19, and that maybe that was the reason?
Surprise surprise, not only is Josh older than 19 apparently, but it turned out that was the second card Warner Music played to get this taken down, after their first claim of the song infringing on Zach's lyrics when Dave and Josh interpolated them at the end of their song.
That right there is why hot-shot entertainment attorneys get paid the big bucks, drink the best scotch, and fuck the nicest trim.
I'm not even sure Josh himself remembered that Warner Music owned his ass in terms of any music he put out as part of their agreement.
Can you just picture it occurring to him this afternoon after the video got pulled down, and him casually telling Dave, "well, I just remembered that I kind of signed my life away to Warner Music Group last year. So that might be why they're upset that we are going after their biggest star on their label."
The gorilla's cage has been rattled, and now he's pissed. Doesn't matter the reason, Dave is out for blood and like Kendrick Lamar dropping "Not Like Us" 24 hours after hitting Drake with “Meet the Grahams", he has promised he has a follow up track for Zach dropping tomorrow.
He's also recording a new episode of BFF's with Josh tomorrow where I'm sure we'll get plenty of more dirt on this whole thing. And as I mentioned above, he'll be on Barstool Backstage later in the afternoon. So be on the lookout for that as well.
p.s. - each time I see the video I have to bring up the Beastie's video after I see those shades and mustaches.