Prince freed himself from record labels years ago. Paul McCartney, Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have followed. Now the Material Girl is kissing her big-name record company goodbye for a cool $120 million.
Could U2 be next? Justin Timberlake? Coldplay? Do superstars even need traditional multiyear album contracts when CD sales are plummeting and fans are swiping tons of music for free online, or tuning in to their favorite bands via YouTube, MySpace and other Internet portals?
“There’s a prevailing wisdom that many established acts don’t need a record label anymore,” says Bruce Flohr, an executive at Red Light Management, which represents artists such as Dave Matthews Band and Alanis Morrissette, and ATO Records, home to David Grey, Gomez and Crowded House, among others.
Executives at the four major record labels would not comment on the record for this story. But several noted privately that their companies are still the best at artist development, promotion and physical distribution of their product
The four majors are Warner Music Group Corp., Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, EMI Group PLC, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG. They accounted for more than 88 percent of all U.S. music album sales this year.
Still, some headliners are convinced they have the clout to change the rules.
Yesterday, Madonna and concert promoter Live Nation Inc. announced a deal that will give Live Nation a stake in her albums, tours, merchandising, films and other music-related projects. Financial terms were not disclosed in the joint statement released by Madonna and Live Nation, but a person familiar with the agreement previously told Associated Press it was worth about $120 million over 10 years.
Source: http://washingtontimes.com/
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.