Rock and roll PING.
Is Warner the only game in town?
They have an enormous back catalogue of classic albums which they do not bother to remaster or rerelease.
Sony Legacy does a great job of getting people to buy deluxe editions of albums they already own - by adding unreleased live albums, hard-to-find b-sides and other goodies to the old albums. Collectors and fans love them and buy them at premium prices.
The Warner back catalogue is so poorly managed that people will pay up to a hundred bucks in the aftermarket for an unremastered, muddy-sounding 1990 CD release from the Warners catalogue.
Does anyone at Warner's stop and think: "Hey, if there are hundreds of people bidding top dollar on an auction site that pays me nothing for a poorly mastered 18 year old CD of an album I control, why don't I just pay a few grand to remaster it and release a deluxe edition at 19.99 a pop?"
Sony is cleaning up - Warners couldn't be bothered.
The major labels in days gone by were deep pockets, and loud megaphones.
They advanced struggling artists money to get their records made and then they made sure that the records were in stores and got radio play. Maybe they fronted the costs for touring as well.
Assuming an artist can borrow the money elsewhere, it seems to me that they could promote, distribute and tour all by themselves.
If they can’t get the money elsewhere then they’re stuck and they’ll have to sign their life away.
At some point, however, I’m betting the musicians tell the major labels to stick their 360 contracts.
Record companies should be prosecuted for the payola scam they have going with corporate radio.
HA HA! Silly Rabbit, you touch that door money and we’re beating that ass!
Now, go get me a coffee and shut up.
I have helped hawk the merchandise for a brother-in-law at some venuses. Big stadium / race track shows pull down some serious bucks. I have worked shows that gross in the $1,000,000 neighborhood. A 15,000 seat venue that I worked would gross between $250,000-$400,000 for a top act.
Those dollars don’t include the tickets for the show. Low overhead and highly over priced items snapped up by a worshiping fan base results in a healthy profit.
Looks like Warner in getting into the game right as this market is drying up too:
Concert souvenir sales vulnerable in recession
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081111/media_nm/us_merchandise
Billboard Nov 11, 2008
Even if recession-stung music fans continue to pay big bucks to see top touring acts, their free-spending ways won’t necessarily continue once they get to the concert.
That could pose problems for concessions and merchandise sales, a key element of the touring business.
Lately I've been listening to a lot more music by small bands that sell through places like CD Baby or their own record labels.
does this mean with 360 the artist will be GUARANTEED an income?
does this mean with 360 the record label assumes some of the costs?