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 (nobody)...and 483 guests Last 5 registered Oplandisks nothingstar N_loop yipe foxtrotromeo Browse members... |
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"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men (sic) die like dogs for no good reason... there's also a negative side." -  Hunter S. Thompson Spare a thought this week for the poor old music industry, which seems to have spent most of its publicity budget this year on advertising the fact that it cannot sell records. Not only that, but apparently it's the punter who's at fault for downloading stuff off the net for free and the artists who are milking the record companies dry. Yeah, right. Andy Taylor, head of Sanctuary, the only substantial independent record label left in the UK, disagrees: "Sales of recorded music account for a third of the whole market, which also includes tours and merchandise as well as the use of music in commercials and films."  He goes on to quote statistics to show that global income from music increased by almost 10% in 2001.  Taylor argues that the music industry's problems stem from the corporate takeover that took place in the 1990s, when numerous small but healthy independent labels were swallowed up by major label budgets, squashing any long-term development of artists. "The easiest thing to do was produce short-term products that would give short-term growth," says Taylor. "It's become like the Christmas toy market.? In today's rhythmically globalised world, record production and sales are controlled almost entirely by five fat cat multinational companies intent on selling an easy-for your-ears, empty-of-substance commodity. Why don't we take a quick run through the hit parade of corporations trying to monopolise our "entertainment": There's AOL Time Warner (who own Atlantic, Elektra, Sire, Maverick among others); Vivendi Universal (MCA, Polygram, Geffen, Interscope, Motown); Sony (CBS, Epic); Bertelsmann (BMG, Arista, RCA), and EMI (Capitol, Chrysalis, Virgin, Parlophone). It's the new monsters of rock. Vivendi Universal are about |
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boo hoo |
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Vivendi Universal are about to merge with US TV network NBC, who happen to be owned by General Electric - manufacturers of engines for war planes used to bomb Afghanistan and Iraq, and donors of $1.1 million to our much-loved Republican Party. Â Vivendi Universal also has links to Espelsa who develop mission planning systems for arms manufacturers Lockheed Martin and British Aerospace. And the latest is that their music division isn't doing so well, so they might soon be flogging it off to another corporation. Â Keeping it in the corporate family, AOL Time Warner are currently negotiating with EMI to sell off Warner Music (Madonna, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Missy Elliot). And of course, AOL is involved in the arms industry through Hughes Electronic Corps and bombmakers, Raytheon Industries. AOL and Time Warner, who together have donated $1.6 million to the Bush administration, merged in 2000 to form the fourth largest company in the world, generating more income than the output of Russia or the Netherlands. Â Meanwhile, Sony is in joint venture with the US Army to develop advanced training simulations equipment, and The Power Corporation of Canada, a major shareholder in BMG, is involved in the production of parts for fighter aircraft and other military vehicles. So the arms business is the new rock'n'roll then. |
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exploding mushrooms!!! |
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In the corporate boardrooms music is another commodity and the artists that create it are no more than a tool that they can use to tap into difficult markets. Record contracts are so watertight and royalties so low that it is only the really big stars - and the record execs - who ever earn a penny from record sales, so that's why the average musician isn't that worried about piracy. The man behind such musical greats as Steps, Pete Waterman (who once bought 18 Ferraris in one day) said: "As Mark Twain said, 'Feed a starving dog and it won't bite you.' That's the principal difference between an artist and a dog." Music only becomes valuable when it can be used to sell other products. Mainstream success story David Gray says: "It's staggering the amount of money you're offered, but music is more important than selling mashed potatoes or a dodgy jacket made in the Philippines." He chose to say no. Â Last year Chumbawumba were offered, and turned down, $350,000 by General Electric to use their hit 'Tubthumping' in an advert for air conditioning. Â They explained "It's not hard to dig up info on companies and sometimes it just stares you in the face. When we were in New York in January there was a huge NO SWEAT banner hanging from a building in Times Square. In great big bold letters it urged shoppers not to buy Gap because they use sweatshop labour. Are Madonna and Missy Elliot dancing to Gap's tune because they have no idea what conditions the jeans they are flogging are made under? It's doubtful either of them would end up behind a counter or pulling pints if they didn't make the advertising revenue." |
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Other British acts, unable to get on radio playlists and so denied performance royalties as a source of income, are desperate to break into a hostile US market, and are less conscientious. Badly Drawn Boy linked up with badly made clothing company Gap, with his music featured on one of their ads, while Coldplay (who told the world to "make trade fair") sold off 'Yellow' to be used by ABC television. John Harlow, a partner in the advertising agency Naked explains: "The commercial brand world used to be quite a dirty word. Artists in the old days would say, 'I don't want to be involved with that.' But the dynamics have changed. Records sales are right down. There is a new era of collaboration." Likewise, when once a band could turn up at a gig and insist the promoter take down the banner advertising a dodgy beer company before they would go on stage, now they are booked to play at the Carling Weekend in Reading and Leeds, or at the Carling Academy in Liverpool, or the Carling Apollo in Hammersmith. In the UK Carling, owned by US brewer Coors (investors in GM barley; right wing anti-union, anti-gay lobbyists...), are collaborating with corporate promoters Mean Fiddler and Clear Channel to sponsor venues and festivals to make the music industry profitable for them and turn festivals into soulless landscapes and extensions of a shopping trip. Pop has finally eaten itself and now it's in the toilet with its fingers down its throat. SchNews.org |
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