Easy Music for Difficult Ears

Hi folks,
It had to happen eventually. I know that this is probably old news by now, but I figured I should give it a shot anyway. After years of huge excesses, someone had to pull the plug and show us all the way (this is business after all) and new EMI owner Guy Hands is just the person to do such a thing. As a frequently broke student, I often get irritated by tales of financial black holes and the people who turn a blind eye to them, but some of the sound bites coming out of the EMI offices are truly astonishing. An example of just a few of these excesses include:

Unlike a few people in the industry though, I thoroughly believe Hands belongs in the position. With a company like EMI, you often need a director who can examine the business through the eyes of a (very, very successful) business person and turn it into a workable and profitable organisation – what’s the point of running a business if your very own excesses are the ones that add heavily to the organisations’ losses?

But now we hear that some of EMI’s big players are going to withhold further albums if this culling goes ahead. The acts so far include Robbie Williams (would anyone really care if he never released an album ever again?), the Rolling Stones (have the released anything that isn’t a Greatest Hits in the last 25 years?), The Verve (excellent band with a lot to offer) and then there are Coldplay and Snow Patrol (who will safely go on releasing the same safe albums forever).

While it’s all well and good for artists to raise their voices with regards to this matter, in reality it means absolutely nothing if the company that they are signed to are consistently losing money. At some stage, even the likes of these artists are going to have come to the realisation that recorded music is jut not shifting half as many units as in the year 2000 (literally). The most interesting one of these artists is Robbie Williams whose massive deal with EMI means that the company also receive (in addition to his CD and digital sales revenue) a percentage of his live and merchandise earnings. For this reason alone, EMI are trying to hold onto Williams with all their persuasive might, as the live entertainment industry is where the music business is at right now. You don’t need detailed pie charts or Excel spreadsheets to see that the the amount of festivals and sell-out outdoor gigs have gone through the roof in the last ten years.

However, the biggest indicator concerning the future of the music industry sits with Madonna. Last October rather than re-sign with Warner Brothers Music, the lady with a thousand styles signed a new contract with…. Live Nation with a deal that is reportedly worth $120 million over a 10 year period. According to the Associated Press, the staggering deal with Live Nation encompasses

“….future music and music-related businesses, including the Madonna brand, albums, touring, merchandising, fan club and Web site, DVDs, music-related television and film projects, and associated sponsorship agreements…”

The key to, not just this deal but for music related contracts for the foreseeable future, is the terms with regards to live performances, merchandising and fan clubs. Considering that the old business model of “record record, then tour forever” is dead (a fact that is really slowly penetrating the heads of some record company bosses and strategists), I must admit that once again the most intelligent woman in popular music is making us sit up and take notice again. All I want now is for her to take out her magic wand and make XFactor and its shit-stained siblings piss off into the distance.
As far as I’m concerned Robbie Williams, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Rolling Stones and the Verve can shout about the injustice all they want, but to my inbuilt bullshit detector it all just sounds like headline grabbing tactics. Personally I can’t wait to see what kind of Christmas bonus Guy Hands awards himself next year…

Current listening:
The La’s: “The La’s”

Shazam and more,
Leigh