New Coldplay Album To Be Sponsored?

 

 

Under New Emi Plans...

 

EMI will allow its artists, who include Coldplay and Kylie Minogue, to be sponsored by corporate companies, according to reports.

 

The proposals, which could see Coldplay’s new album ‘Prospekt’ released with corporate branding, are expected to feature as part of an extensive shake-up of the company.

 

Terra Firma, EMI’s new owners, believe the plans would help increase the label’s revenue as it struggles to meet the growth of the digital marketplace.

 

Earlier Today, Guys Hands, the private equity firms boss, confirmed that up to 2,000 staff would lose their jobs at the record label.

 

The job cuts, which will focus mainly on the recorded artist division, are the equivalent to nearly one third of EMI’s entire workforce.

 

Terra Firma took over EMI last August in a deal worth £3.2 billion.

 

http://www.gigwise.com/news.asp?contentid=39998

This seems like the opposite of what the artists would want, or at the least I feel like this is exactly why Radiohead and Paul McCartney left. This tactic is liable to scare away some of the artists, especially the ones that want artistic freedom (like Coldplay) instead of revenue.

i ranted like crazy in the "Coldplay on Strike!" thread last night, but i think this is just RIDICULOUS. and i think coldplay would rather leave than have ads all over their album and their concerts. what's next, audio commercials between tracks that you can't skip over??

More EMI Plans: Could Coldplay's Next Album Be Sponsored By Prozac?

 

 

If Guy Hands has his way, maybe! (Although I'd think that Vivarin would be a more appropriate sponsor, since it can counteract the band's soporific effects on people.) The man charged with leading EMI on the path toward profitability (or at least not hemorrhaging money) told the Financial Times that he's going to look into alternate means of making money for artists, and that those means could result in bands being presented to their adoring public by your favorite consumer products--or, at the very least, some deep-pocketed pharmaceutical company.

 

"Football teams have very distinct corporate sponsorship," Hands told the FT. "Why shouldn't some of the leading bands have the same sort of relationships?"

 

Ah, yes. Clearly, Hands has never had a late-night pub conversation about the idea of the "sellout," and its various permutations within the rebellious-at-all-costs world of music. (Or maybe he's only seen music videos with lots of product placement in them.) Anyone else feel like this is the sort of cheeky announcement that makes me wonder if Hands wants "striking" artists like Robbie Williams and The Verve to finally have a huge tantrum and run away screaming from their contracts? A sorta sneaky way of engaging in some money-saving brush-clearing, if you will.

 

http://idolator.com/345019/more-emi-plans-could-coldplays-next-album-be-sponsored-by-prozac

Because you know, with all this talk about this and that idea "devaluing" music, nothing "values" music like a McDonald's logo on a commercial cd you still have to pay $12 bucks for.

how canthey compare footbal teams to musicians?? Both talented in their own right, but come on!!!!

 

thats ridiculous. I hope it doesn't go down like that..... for all the artists sake.

 

 

stupid corporations.

Oh, by the way, like I said in the strike thread, that gigwise article http://www.gigwise.com/news.asp?contentid=39998 has a poll.

 

I say it's poll crashing time. :sneaky: Who's with me?

This is exactly what Chris and the boys hate!!So much drama with EMI lately.I bet the boys are irratated right now!!

I'm wishing that the band would just fuck EMI at the last minute and release the record independently. I would.

It's all true. I hear they are naming the LP Carlsberg. That whore Guy Berryman will do anything to get free beer. :P

^Thanks, Angie. I for one needed cheering up after reading the articles.:)

 

I'll still buy the album, but if Coldplay don't protest this, I'll be very disappointed in them, with everything they've said about being so against advertising.

 

This is the corperate version of me wearing a McDonald's t-shirt on stage and geting free burgers to pay for my gigs...disgusting!

 

But I'm going to stick with my positive attitude. evolution is good, and I hope the guys say f**k EMI!

Honestly, I think if this were to happen we would all be entirely justified in just downloading the thing for free. However, given that Coldplay have turned down millions and millions of pounds of advertising money in the past I can't see them sticking a Coca-Cola logo on the front of their album now...

I don't know if you guys heard this, but in a recent interview in the financial times, EMI head honcho, Guy Hands declared he's moving towards corporate sponsorships for music albums. That's right: messages like "This Coldplay album was brought to you by Sudafed" could be starting to show up on your favorite artist's albums. Hands said "Football teams have very distinct corporate sponsorship. Why shouldn't some of the leading bands have the same sort of relationships?":

http://www.pollsb.com/polls/poll/5574/corporate-sponsorships-of-music-albums

I'm wishing that the band would just fuck EMI at the last minute and release the record independently. I would.

 

they should do what Radiohead did...... :) label free... :)

maybe you are blind

I doubt they can just up and leave the label - otherwise I'm pretty sure they would have done already. They would have a contract with EMI to release a set number of albums and that means anything they write and release is under contract. They can't release it themselves as EMI would have rights over it.

 

The only way to not give EMI the album is probably to never release anything again... and we don't want that! :( The best hope is that they aren't contracted to do may more albums so they can get away from EMI soon!

 

However, I don't think for a second that they will agree to any corporate sponsorship. They've flatly refused to do anything like that for ten years (forgoing loads of money) so I don't think they'd turn around and do it for the record company now. No way! :angry:

 

Record companies don't have anything to do with touring so they can't force them to have any corporate sponsorship at their concerts - thank goodness!

i wish they could just pull a radiohead and be done with it. but since they have the 5-album contract, i think what i would try to do is say to EMI "hey, we'll release this album with you guys ONLY if its not corporately sponsored." i think there might be a tiny chance (chance) that EMI might listen to that because of all the money EMI stands to lose if they withhold it (which would be WAY more money lost than if they just didnt have sponsorship), like they did when X&Y was delayed. then i think they should put out an outtakes or "best of" album, which probably wouldnt require too much time on their part, release that in like 2009, and then be done with evil EMI. i think this is what most bands should do--pearl jam did a very similar thing a few years ago and now theyre free of their old label much faster and much more painlessly then they would be if they just sat on their work and didnt release anything. i think compromising is probably more proactive and painless than flat-out refusing to do anything, because that would probably prolong their time with EMI, which is the last thing anyone wants, i think. and i think that EMI would be more likely to listen to their request of no corporate sponsorship if they promise to release it, which still means lots of dollar-signs to them, as opposed to none if they withhold the album. guy hands sounds like such a jerk that he would just dig in his heels just as much as all the bands that go on strike.

 

that's just what i think, and really, what do i know? but i do know that it's worked with similar situations in the past.

I thik they are contracted to do 6 albums... not sure. if its 5... then lets hope Prospekt is 4, and a greatest hits is #6.. :)

Good article here about the Hands management style.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=PJYVKISYXBACHQFIQMGSFFOAVCBQWIV0?xml=/opinion/2008/01/16/do1605.xml

 

"Oh yes, that's his other brainwave. He wants to open up new revenue lines through corporate sponsorship and branding. Hmm. Coldplay posing in Barclaycard T-shirts on their next album cover? I would like to be at the meeting where Hands proposes that."

 

I would also love to be at that meeting!

I've been under the stange impression that this was Coldplays last album under EMI but it's not, which means 2 more records under Guy Hands. Hope something happens to prevent this!

 

"I like to imagine Guy walking into a Beatles recording session. "We've been asking around, boys, and what we'd like is more singalong choruses, lots of 'yeah yeahs' and keep things a bit shorter please, we're trying to save on vinyl. Oh, and a bit less weird, thanks. Our focus group wasn't sure about the whole walrus thing. And leave room for Tesco's logo on the sleeve."

 

Joy of joys