FEATURE: Modern Music Promotion
- Posted on October 23, 2007 5:34 PM
- 1 comment
IT’S ONLY ROCK’N ROLL : But Not As We Know It
By Peter Coulston
So you want to be a rock ‘n roll star, listen now to what I say. Get a guitar and learn how to play; then get an agent who can find you gigs and a manager who can secure you a record deal. Most of that is still true today, except the bit about the record deal. It seems that there is more than one way to commit your material to posterity these days.
What with the birth of the online music download and the increasing reluctance of major record labels to finance new talent, artists are finding new ways to break into the business. Last Week In London, last week, attended the launch of a single by Shayan Italia, a new Indian singer/songwriter signed to Universal Records. This may seem like standard industry stuff, but this guy funded his first album and video by raising £500,00 from private investors on ebay. This is a first for an emerging artist, although David Bowie and James Brown both raised large amounts of money from bond issues supported by future revenues from their back catalogues. The difference being, the risk in backing an established artist whose material will probably sell forever is minimal; backing a newcomer is high risk. There are similar things happening elsewhere in the industry. Singer/songwriter Miranda Barber has recently secured £15,000 to invest in her next album as a result of winning a song writing contest organised by Slice The Pie. This organisation raises the money from the people who voted for the artist, and the shares are then tradeable through Slice The Pie. Not high finance, but very effective for artists looking to break into the business.
What is significant is that major artists have begun to feel the winds of change. We have already had Prince giving his new album away with the Mail On Sunday and Macca with your Mocha at Starbucks. Radiohead have gone one step further, as they do, by inviting fans to buy their new album on line and pay whatever they like. Very risky, you may think; but not when you are dealing with Radiohead fans. While around one third downloaded for free, the rest paid anything from £4 to £40 for the product. Their fans are smart enough to know that, if Radiohead lose substantial amounts of money on this album, they may be reluctant to produce a follow up, which is not good news for Radiohead fans. Good thinking, guys. In the meantime, record companies and retailers are missing out. We now hear that Madonna is leaving her long time association with Warner Brothers Records to sign a £60million deal with promoters Live Nation. This gives them exclusive rights to promote her concerts and merchandise, including three albums over ten years. It will be interesting to see how the “albums” will be marketed. With financially astute dudes like Prince, Macca and Madonna thinking outside the frame, how long before people like Elton John, The Stones, Kylie and JLo follow suit. Watch this space.
What do you think? Spill the beans.. we dare you.
Comments (1)
BandDomain
Private investors on eBay?! Wow! Interesting...thanks for sharing this. I think I'll need to read som more about this because I think it is a very cool idea.
Posted on October 31, 2007 9:47 AM
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