Music Artists Abandon Record Label… A Trend?
By Anna Johnson on March 20th, 2009Popular band, The Counting Crows, has terminated its 18 year old relationship with Geffen Records (owned by Universal Music Group), with plans to publish and distribute its own music.
The band intends to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Internet which, it appears, was not possible under the band’s agreement with Geffen.
The Counting Crows is certainly not the first band to pursue Internet based publishing and distribution opportunities outside the confines of its deal with a record label. Other prominent bands to do so include Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails.
A recent interview between TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington and an unnamed record label executive indicates that the labels are pushing for ‘360′ agreements with artists, giving the labels a share of every conceivable revenue source. This would include music sales, concert ticket sales, endorsements and more.
But this may end up pushing artists AWAY.
Traditionally, the biggest benefits offered by record labels to artists were production facilities, distribution and promotion. With music production cheaper than ever, and distribution readily accessible via the Internet, it’s conceivable that music artists will want more limited, rather than more expansive, deals with the record labels.
Source: Michael Arrington, “Counting Crows Go Label-Free,” TechCrunch, March 18, 2009
