Journal Spy der Mann's Journal: The bands vs. the record labels: A retrospective 2
Picture this. One of the most famous characters in the country offers you a deal so you can make money by using his name to promote yourself. Many years later, you realize he's not only ripping you off, but that he's also ripping your fans off, and then blackmailing them for "stealing". What would you do? Dump him, of course!
And this is what the artists have started to do with the record labels. One by one, artists are realizing that the record labels, specially the "big 4" (EMI, Sony BMG,Universal, Warner), aren't really needed.
This trend just started on October 1, 2007, when Radiohead announced that they would release their latest album, Rainbows, on October 10 as a digital download, bypassing the Recording Industry.
Later they were followed by Nine inch Nails, whose founder, Trent Reznor, has been recently showing a disdain for the labels. On September 16, he told fans at a concert in Sydney, Australia, to steal his music: "Has anyone seen the price come down? Okay, well, you know what that means - STEAL IT. Steal away. Steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin'. Because one way or another these motherfuckers will get it through their head that they're ripping people off and that that's not right."
On October 8, Reznor made the public announcement: "As of right now nine inch nails is a totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label... it gives me a great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate."
According to the UK's Daily Telegraph, fellow British groups Oasis and Jamiroquai are also considering issuing their music for free. Neither group is currently under a recording contract.
More bands followed, if not with their direct actions, at least with the ideas: On October 9, Dave Peters, frontman of the band 'Throwdown', said: "If you wanna really support a band, "steal" their album...help bury the label... and buy a tshirt when you show up at their show and sing every word."
He added: "I play in a metal band. We have sold around 200k records across 3 releases. We're not 'huge' by any stretch but do alright and live off (and ON subsequently) the road. Fans and friends ask me all the time how I feel about "stealing music." I just told someone yesterday "I have a hard time seeing it as stealing...when I don't see any money from cd sales to begin with.""
On October 10, Madonna signed a deal with Live Nation, an L.A. based concert promotion firm, which is NOT a record company. (Record labels usually are the ones who organize live concerts).
Perhaps it is just a strange coincidence, but all these people and bands took the decision to dump (at least partially) the Recording Labels, just a few days after the first court case of music sharing resulted in a heavy penalty for the sharer: On Oct 5, Jammie Thomas was ordered to pay $222,000 dollars for sharing 24 songs with Kazaa (altho the RIAA never proved that Thomas did actually engage in the transfer of the songs - she was found guilty just for 'making available' her collection). It is also a strange coincidence that one of the companies that sued Thomas, was Interscope - the same company that NiN's Trent Reznor had signed his contract with. Bad Karma?
Whatever the reason is, it's good to know that the music fans are finally putting a stop to the greedy middlemen. Expect more bands in 2008 to dump the labels for more modern and practical means of earning money from their music.
NIN (Score:2)
I wouldn't call it recent. His second album is basically an attack on TVT records and its president, who screwed him over back when he was just starting out.
Mod parent informative! (Score:2)
BTW, now that you're giving feedback, how do you feel about my recent journal entries? Any suggestions?