From: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org (support-system-digest) To: support-system-digest@smoe.org Subject: support-system-digest V4 #80 Reply-To: support-system@smoe.org Sender: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk support-system-digest Friday, March 23 2001 Volume 04 : Number 080 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Hiding out ["Chipko Arnold" ] Artists VS. major labels [Moe ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 09:54:50 From: "Chipko Arnold" Subject: Hiding out >>Chicago's once-declining Bucktown-Wicker Park neighborhood is >now home to artists, writers and hip dot-commers. The name itself >has become shorthand for nonconformity and innovation. >It was the epicenter of Chicago's great indie music wave of the >1990s, the proving ground for such phenoms as Veruca Salt, Smashing >Pumpkins and Liz Phair. It was hip and gritty, a once-downtrodden >neighborhood revitalized by artists, musicians and bargain-seeking >urbanites willing to roll the dice. >Now the Smashing Pumpkins have broken up. Liz Phair is a married >mom living in Southern California.<< > >It was from a Yahoo! business article. Make of it what you will... > >- -Ken ....Ahhhh, but there's the Hideout in that area, right? And Kelly Hogan works behind the bar some night, when she's not singing on the stage, or making records with everyone. She's a wonder, a voice to make you weep. Just in case you don't take me seriously, i seem to recall blathering on about Weeping Tile some 3 years ago (maybe more!) who's lead singer was one Sarah Harmer, who is quite popular on this board now. See, sometimes a small, skinny brit can know a thing or two! Word also has it that there's been a big shake up at Capitol and all is in limbo! Anyone know more about this and how it will affect our Liz. Chipko "and i wonder how i've come to know so much less than i knew before" ... Joseph Lee Henry. "i know the promise is so much better than the real thing" ... Grand Drive. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 17:44:24 +0100 From: Moe Subject: Artists VS. major labels Ray: >1)where else can you get $1 million dollars to make an album? how >will you get all the resources for radio, internet, college, and retail >promotion? how will you gain access to all the distribution >channels? (even selling on the internet costs $$$...nevermind the fact >that internet sales make up less than 2% of total record sales) > >2)let's say that you're one of the **95%** of the albums that fail. the >album cost $700,000 to produce, but has only made $200,000. are you >going to all of a sudden pay the record company $500,000? > >considering the cost of albums these days and their success rate, record >labels DO take significant risks in making a commitment to an artist. i'm >not saying that recording contracts are completely fair...i'm just saying >that you should look at the argument from both sides before formulating >an opinion. I agree that they take risks but it's only because their goal is to sell millions of each album. How do the small labels do? I doubt that making a Sleater-Kinney album costs $1,000,000. Why do these labels like Kill Rock Star work? Maybe because they don't aim as high as the major labels who only look for artists who will make them earn a lot of money. Therefore an album is not as expensive, with much less production and/or promotion costs. Maybe it's the same difference as between the big Hollywood studios who only look for blockbusters and small ones who are more interested in the artistic side than the commercial one. However I agree that one should look at both sides. No one puts a gun to an artist's head when they sign the contract and if some were less greedy and signed with smaller labels, they could keep artistic control and the rights to their music and not lose their soul maybe. Anyway I think that Courtney Love's idea to try and unite artists in some union is good. And why not make her own label btw? Moe ------------------------------ End of support-system-digest V4 #80 ***********************************