Could he be the man that revolutionizes the majors ?
Could he be the person who has the "bottle" to make the hard decisions ?

I have written a piece about this on my site. The linkie is below.

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"Could he be the man that revolutionizes the majors ?"
No.

"Could he be the person who has the "bottle" to make the hard decisions ?"
Terra Firma is doing what hedge funds always do: cutting costs. The decisions maybe be "hard", but are they "right"? Does anyone know what the "right" decisions are?

How is EMI going to filter and find these acts to place into that model? Having a bank of kids sitting in front of a computers? Thats not A&R is it? That's a popularity contest.

Finding and developing great talent is very very difficult, time consuming, and costly.

History has proven that acts that the public has the NEED to see, can't live without and have long lasting careers, that can monetize any aspect of their career for over five years have been built from real A&R, by people that knew what they were doing. Not ass kissers desperatly trying to hold onto their jobs.

There was a major Billboard research article not that long ago, on the speed at which acts break in relation to their falling off the face of the earth, that may be the best thing they have published in the last ten years

I don't think the savior is going to come from a major label, and I've always liked and had strong relationships at EMI.

GG that is not what I meant. In fact the days of real A&R finding, nurturing and developing an act have long gone. What I am saying is that if EMI created a service division that would assist unsigned acts in getting on iTunes, offers marketing support at a price, provides the back end for them to release their own music at a price, not to dissimilar to Tunecore by the way, they will be at the sharp end on 2 fronts. They will be able to listen to all the acts and spot the talent, they will also see them progress and having a relationship with them would make it easier for them to be moved over into a 'signed' partnership. This is the way of the future and of course it's more revenue for them.
I said it once and I will say it again. This is the future of the majors. Who has the 'Bottle' to do it ?

I have to say that the day someone signs and nurtures a new Queen or Springsteen, the days of A&R will be back with a bang.

Getting them to the audience is another story (and the one we sweat about most on here, maybe as are under the misguided impression that we already have the "hit" ).

I'm impressed by his 'lets shake things up' attitude. The music business needs it.

So we sent him a CD - at Terra Firma.

And we got a nice email reply from him advising us to submit it through his A & R people. (we hoped he'd actually listen to it himself - but he said he wasn't an A & R person).


Stretch
www.DASTARDS.com

That is of course brilliant and classic Stretch.

I do not doubt that they(the A+R) know who you are though, but probably have other things on their mind at the moment.
It seems incredible to me , that we go into another year without the Dastards on a major.

The last thing The Dastards need, Mart, is a MAJOR.
Most of them are run by people who refer you to A&R "because they are not A&R persons".

Forget A&R. Forget majors.

The future is now.

Yes JK. We're not looking to get the band signed to a label. My letter to Guy was suggesting that we could work together - that EMI - or Terra Firma coud act as an 'investor' to help fund marketing & distribution. They get a ready-made team. We get more money to work with. But getting through the 'A & R' gate is amost impossible as they don't seem to want to take any risks.

So it's back to plan A. Do it ourselves.

Stretch

I was thinking more in line with distribution help than anything,as well, which is what I would like to see happening, an incoming A+R guy/guyette telling Wake that he would like things "a bit different in the band" would be pointless.
One of the great things that has happened over the last couple of years is genuine distinctive sound developing in self funded acts.
A real "this is what we sound like, lets work at it" attitude.

There is a lot of other great product out there too which could benefit from being in the places where the majors pretty much still hold fort.

New model majors, when and if they emerge, could learn a lot from the talented acts that just will not go away, which seems to be what Stretch was after as well.

This raises another thought, when it all finally comes tumbling down to the last brick, a leader is bound to emerge, it`s human nature.
I wonder who?

Mart wrote:

One of the great things that has happened over the last couple of years is genuine distinctive sound developing in self funded acts.
A real "this is what we sound like, lets work at it" attitude.


Very true. Perhaps the very reason then why A+R won't touch these acts is because they cannot interfere with the product, demanding remixes or other affairs that take the song out of the artistes hands.

I also think what you suggest Mart about the future role of majors lie in distribution is true. The majors have the facilities to get the product out there.

Maybe John Otway was onto something in the mid 80s when he pressed up a whole load of singles with a bogus Warners label, sent them to Warners with a cheque and letter declaring HE was signing THEM! They actually went for it too!

Actually looking at the sales figures for albums this month, EMI would be more than wise to approach indies for distribution package deals, but I have a feeling they would be largely declined .

re; John Otway, was the Warner label he had his record pressed up on Stiff records at the time?
If I`m correct, oddly enough, although not mentioned, he probably did it with their(Stiffs) backing, it was probably only Warners that didnt know and this act was probably a bigger turning point in the industry than has been noted previously, from a time when the indies became a brand name alone for a while.

well said JK...you're either doing it or you're not.

Further to all this there is another problem. I had a conversation with a very reputable PR company last week. Even with their contacts and muscle, they are finding it almost impossible to break new acts via mainstream radio. "Soul destroying" was the phrase they used.

So, may I suggest ladies and gentlemen, that you spend your promo money wisely? Perhaps in other directions? Or, as I have done, set up your own in house job and save a packet.

Big End you are right although having said that I have found a good PR firm over in blighty that can do the job at the same price it would cost me to do (by turning down other work). However I am not relying on them completely.

What I have found is that video and one with a compelling call to action gets views. It's a long haul and as I have always said monetise your marketing and the sales are the icing on the cake.

Things like Rhodri Marsden doing 250,000 on Youtube and others must yield you some return and yes i know many don't like the idea of advertising but video ads are the absolute dogs bollox online as they are very creative and viral and people do watch them so they can earn you more money.
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