“Disintermediation Blues” shoots up the charts
Maybe you’ve heard the new hit by Howlin’ Fatcat on the Vinyl Brains label. All the big record execs are humming it. Starts out like this (apologies to Martin Mull):
Woke up this mornin’, saw my business model was gone
Oh, woke up this mornin’, saw my business model was gone
Got so mad, I threw my drink across the lawn
For all the talk by the record labels in their antipiracy campaign about the need to make sure the creative artists get their due, the artists themselves must be restless in the relationship, because they’re getting increasingly bold about abandoning that paternalistic care. Radiohead, having fulfilled its contract with EMI, is selling its new album directly to fans online, letting them set the price (though it will still likely sign a CD distribution deal with one of the major labels). Nine Inch Nails declared itself a free agent and said it would follow the same path. Jamiroquai and Oasis, both contract free, are also reportedly mulling such a move.
And now Madonna, while not going as far as “name your price” album sales or total online distribution, is reportedly on the verge of dropping longtime partner Warner Bros. Records from the gravy train and signing a 10-year, $120 million deal with concert-promotion giant Live Nation. The arrangement would be a so-called “360″ deal, in which Live Nation would get the rights to sell three studio albums, promote concert tours, sell merchandise and license Madonna’s name. Warner would keep the rights to sell Madonna’s back catalog, and the Material Girl still owes the label one more studio album, but after that, it looks like adios.
So what are we looking at here? TechCrunch says, “The only real question now is how fast will the music industry model come tumbling down. When Radiohead led the way in offering their music directly to fans many predicted that the move was the beginning of the end; Madonna may well be the tipping point from where we will now see a flood of recording artists dumping record labels and where todays model will shortly become a footnote in Wikipedia.” But it’s not all gravy on the music fan’s end, at least during this transition period. A Balkanized music distribution system poses it’s own set of hassles for consumers, as Michael Parekh notes.
Nice article but not factually correct. RadioHead is not leading, but following in the footsteps of Prince, who has been giving away his current album at his U.S. concerts when you you get back your ticket stub, and Prince actually gave away several hundred thousand as a Sunday newspaper insert in the UK.
To his credit, Prince saw the writing on the wall years ago; the labels are ripping the artists off, and the only way around it is to use the album as a promotional tool for your concerts, and own ALL of your concert revenue. Any additional money you make off a pay-for-download scheme is gravy!
…how fast will the music industry model come tumbling down[?]
Looks like we just have a new entrant into the same old music industry model — how bad can that deal have looked to Live Nation? They just made a $120MM wager that sez some artists (OK, at least one “artist”) is quite happy to outsource all the packaging, promotion, distribution, and — dare we whisper it? — (sales) of MP3s and other forms of recordings, and that the other part of the bargain has $120MM or more of sales that it expects to recoup its expenses for.
Don’t look for the Material Girl and her new buddies to announce that all her fans will now be able to download all her new stuff for free, but hey, the concerts, T-shirts and removable tatoos are gonna be KILLER!!! so start salivating now!
Tell me that the 20 largest-selling recording artists — heck, throw in the San Francisco Symphony and the Met Opera, too –have each committed to giving away all their recorded music just to keep the fans coming to the concerts, and maybe THEN we can talk about paradigm shifts.
Considering exactly how much of a cut the artists get out of album and mp3 sales, can you blame them for not exactly caring about the music industry model and looking for something else? About the only folks who make anything off album sales are the record companies, not the artists (unless they’re megahuge).
yes, the record companies are toast. having been ripped off big time by Electra Records in the ’60’s I have personal knowledge. as a multimedia artist I am happy to have a computer program which gives me a personal studio and a disconnect from the greedy vipers. their bottom line was profit, not art. the 45 single is now a 99c download. why buy an album of tunes when the consumer just wants the ‘hit’ for a buck