Laments from the two stars show that an industry quick to sell the idea of female independence is far less keen to support it

The buried Instagram comment and hastily deleted tweet have become a kind of desperate cri de career for female artists who have founded professional lives on on bold statements. This weekend, both Madonna and Grimes used Instagram’s comments section to express their frustration with how their respective teams were handling their new material.

On Saturday Madonna’s manager, Guy Oseary, posted a glowing tribute to Madonna’s album Ray of Light on its 20th anniversary: “Love this woman. Love this album,” he wrote. Deep down the comments thread were two contributions from the artist herself. “Can you help me now please!! 😂” read the first, followed by a pointed addendum that referenced her work with William Orbit on the album. “Remember when I made records with other artists from beginning to end and I was allowed to be a visionary and not have to go to song writing camps where no one can sit still for more than 15 minutes … 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 coming soon”

Also on Saturday, Grimes (AKA Claire Boucher) revealed in an Instagram comment that she’s recording two albums to follow up her 2015 record Art Angels, one expressing “extreme darkness and chaos”, the other, “glorious light”. These would appear “separated by a period of time”, she wrote. “One final album for my shit label”, followed by another “on a label of my choosing”.

This wasn’t the first intimation that Grimes is struggling with the independent 4AD. Earlier this month, she told one fan that her new album was due this year. But two weeks later, she edited an old Instagram caption to read, “no music any time soon after all music industry is trash”. On Twitter, she explained to a fan: “I’m not allowed to say but there r people involved in my career who would rather destroy me than build something. indie music is more about egos than money. if u hurt someone’s ego, they don’t mind forgoing what you are potentially worth to them to take u down”.

The tweet was swiftly deleted, as was another, reading: “srsly fucked up and crazy shit going behind the scenes in my career this whole time i’ve never spoken of to protect myself legally”. Grimes and 4AD have unfollowed one another on Twitter. (4AD has declined to comment on the matter.)

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘All music industry is trash’ ... Grimes performing at Brixton Academy, March 2016. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer

One is the greatest pop star of all time, the other an avant-garde visionary whose comparatively short career is disproportionate to her vast influence. Both are fighting for creative control in an industry that loves to sell the idea of female independence but does not like to enable it. Their remarks – the modern equivalent of messages curled into bottles and thrown hopefully into the sea – are a reminder of the price of creative freedom for female artists, and the action they have to take to be heard.

The platforms on which Madonna and Grimes are protesting may be new, but the issue is as old as pop itself. Over the past few years we’ve seen Kesha fighting to free herself from her contract with the producer and Kemosabe label founder Dr Luke, alleging sexual and emotional abuse. (Dr Luke, real name Lukasz Gottwald, denies the allegations.) Both judges and parent label Sony declined to release her from her contract; the trade-off was Rainbow, her third album, and the first that reflected her “true” musical influences and that was “truly from the inside of my guts” – released on Kemosabe.

In the 1980s and 90s, Aimee Mann fought relentless battles against her record labels – firstly with the band ‘Til Tuesday, then as a solo artist – to be able to release her music when A&Rs failed to hear a hit among the material. (Eventually, she gave up and started her own label, Super-Ego, which has buoyed her career ever since.) Interviewing young female musicians last year, the Guardian’s Harriet Gibsone found many of them lamenting that they were being forced to dilute their originality to reach the broadest audiences possible. “I had to learn what compromise was at a really young age,” said the solo artist Raye.

Grimes: 'In my life, I'm a lot more weird than this' Read more

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, and given the lack of a Weinstein-level reckoning in the music industry, there is a laser-sharp focus on the power dynamics that lie behind female musicians’ careers. This is paramount. But equally worthy of scrutiny are the creative limitations placed on female musicians, and the commercial funnels that they’re forced through to get their music (or some semblance of it) out there. Male pop stars are allowed to be auteurs now; more often than not, women have to conform to narrow ideas of what is marketable. As Grimes would seem to testify, any attempt to challenge that may have serious repercussions – and when many artists on major labels are tied into decade-long contracts, the odds of escaping an adversarial working relationship aren’t in their favour.

Put it this way: while Madonna is subject to a songwriting crapshoot, Justin Timberlake – an artist of nowhere near her stature – gets to release a 16-track longueur about his weird woodsman fantasies, made with an intimate team. I know which one I’d rather see reined in. Maybe Madonna doesn’t have another Ray of Light in her – but after 36 years in the business, she’s at least earned the right to give it her best shot.