MUSICAL SHARES
“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 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. 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.
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. 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.
Dollar Notes
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. Last year Chumbawumba were offered, and turned down,
$350,000 by General Electric to use their hit ‘Tubthumping’ in an
advert for air conditioning. 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.”
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.
* For more on Clear Channel: www.clearchannelsucks.org and www.rancid-
news.co.uk
* For more on why the Mean Fiddler suck check out
www.squall.co.uk/squall.cfm?sq=2002062501&ct=5
* For more on the melodious links between the music and the arms
industry see: www.cstrecords.com/html/uxo.html
“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 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. 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.
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. 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.
Dollar Notes
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. Last year Chumbawumba were offered, and turned down,
$350,000 by General Electric to use their hit ‘Tubthumping’ in an
advert for air conditioning. 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.”
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.
* For more on Clear Channel: www.clearchannelsucks.org and www.rancid-
news.co.uk
* For more on why the Mean Fiddler suck check out
www.squall.co.uk/squall.cfm?sq=2002062501&ct=5
* For more on the melodious links between the music and the arms
industry see: www.cstrecords.com/html/uxo.html
