COMBO Board Member Jamie Krutz sent a couple of articles that deal with the music industry in general. We felt the information contained in these articles could be relevant to all musicians and hope that you will take the time to read them. Two more articles with quotes since from Wash Post!
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Record Labels Want Viral TikToks – Artists Are Pushing Back
Quotes from article:
Halsey posted a TikTok this week with the effect of a hostage video. In it, she gazes blankly toward the camera as words appear on-screen: “basically i [sic] have a song that i love that i wanna release ASAP but my record label won’t let me. ive been in this industry for 8 years and I’ve sold over 165 million records and my record company is saying that I can’t release it unless they can fake a viral moment on tiktok.”
“When music is finished and you’re a major label artist, it’s traditionally quite a while before it comes out,” said Marc Plotkin, a music business professor at New York University who has run marketing campaigns for both independent and major labels. “They’re not waiting so long because they have to manufacture CDs, like in the ’90s. They want to tee up enough attention. The shortcut to that is if you have millions of followers on TikTok.”
The singer-songwriter Vérité, who has released music independently since 2014, said it is “really disheartening when technology and culture shift in a way that … is so blatantly focused on pure consumerism.” Deciding to remain independent was difficult, she said, but ultimately came down to her desire to maintain autonomy and control over her music and overall vision.
“The major-label system is a gamble,” she said. “When it pays off and works well, it’s brilliant and you can become extremely successful. You can become famous and you can have No. 1s and all the dreams come true. If it doesn’t go well — which is, let’s be honest, most of the time — a lot of artists are stuck. They’re unable to monetize and don’t have ownership over their work.”
Some artists end up leaving labels altogether, an easier choice when they already have a following. John Mayer announced in March that he decided not to renew his contract with Columbia Records and “hasn’t signed another one because he doesn’t really need to,” according to Plotkin.
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Read the whole story here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/05/25/record-labels-want-viral-tiktoks-artists-are-pushing-back/
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Live Nation Subsidiaries Got Millions in Aid Meant for Independent Venues
Quotes from article:
In the early months of the pandemic, as lawmakers toiled on an aid package for shuttered concert halls and other performance venues, a major company lobbied to be included in the relief.
Live Nation Entertainment — the corporate parent of Ticketmaster and a dominant force in the entertainment industry — urged Democrats and Republicans in Congress to let it be directly eligible for the $15 billion emergency relief program, according to five people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.
Congress was wary of allowing grants to publicly traded companies such as Live Nation, worrying that the funds could be used to bail out stock market investors. In the end, lawmakers wrote the law to exclude public companies, as well as firms they own or control.
But the parameters set by Congress and the Small Business Administration, which disbursed the funds, allowed several companies in which Live Nation has significant investments to receive grants: Nearly $19 million went to firms listed as subsidiaries on Live Nation’s 2022 securities filings or in which Live Nation has a substantial, though not majority, ownership stake, according to a Washington Post review of Securities and Exchange Commission filings, state corporate documents and SBA data, as well as interviews with executives at companies that received grants. The grants do not appear to have violated the law or any rules set by the SBA.
Nevertheless, the revelation demonstrates how a large company with stakes in hundreds of smaller businesses could, while following the rules, reap a benefit that some legislators didn’t want. And it shows that how agencies implement a law can be just as important as the way it
is written by Congress.
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Read the whole story here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/05/22/live-nation-pandemic-aid/
Cheers, ~ Jamie
http://www.jamiekrutz.com
Record Labels Want Viral TikToks – Artists Are Pushing Back // Live Nation Subsidiaries Got Millions in Aid Meant for Independent Venues
