for stockholders, I'd want a suit in charge.

for music lovers, I'd want a music lover in charge.

edit: oh, and I love the quote about making a group into a brand, not just a musical act. I mean, look at Radiohead. They're a brand, whether they want to be or not. They'll sell a million of their next record even if it is independently released. Also, the Black Eyed Peas are horrible. They're rich, but they're horrible.

There were a few good responses to this article on The Velvet Rope:

Vornado

As an outsider, I have three reactions:

1. If the president of a label with a roster of more than three artists is handwriting orchestral scores and conducting a recording session, because he thought that would make the songs better, something is fundamentally wrong. If he has time for that, either he's not doing his job or his job shouldn't exist. Can anyone imagine the president of General Mills futzing in his kitchen with new Cheerios recipes?

2. I'm so glad a "music guy" is masterminding the success of Black Eyed Peas, Pussycat Dolls, and, now, Slumber Party Girls. It clearly makes all the difference.

3. Running a complex enterprise takes a variety of skills, and few people have a complete background in all of them when they take the helm. But one way or another institutions create the leaders they deserve. It's comforting to know that someone who is a competent professional musician and songwriter can be just as much a craven whore as any attorney or accountant.

Danhedonia

I want to make sure I have this right: it takes a lawyer to ruin a record company because we all know that no lawyers love music, but it takes a performing arts major with a fondness for the Pussycat Dolls to bring us all back from the brink?

The slumber party girls? Wtf

Quote:

To broaden the band's draw, Fair found the group a pop-friendly female singer named Fergie and gave Will.I.Am, the band's primary songwriter, some advice.

"The Peas saw themselves as a hip-hop group, and they were scared that if they tried to become a pop band they would lose their musical credibility," Fair said.

Oh, bitter irony.

I'll take the musician anyday.

a combo. you can't just have it in black and white. a guy with a musical background but with an MBA and maybe his JD.

what i'm trying to say is, me.

Ah, come on...this guy is not a starving artist and probably never was. He is just a suit in musician's clothing - a PR move if there ever was one. The fact that this guy is clasically trained is likely more a convenent corollary than a primary driver behind the decision.

Good article. Thank god The Starting Line got off that shitty label.

The Black Eyed Peas did lose their musical credibility...

"We need executives who think about groups as brands, not just musical acts,"

that right there is exactly the reason i stay away from pop "music" altogether!

In my opinion, i think its important with todays "industry" to have a partnership. It shouldnt be one or the other. It should be a consistent 50/50 partnership of ideas, thoughts, actions and dedication. I think if more bands were given the oppurtunity to continue to build with the label what they started and what worked from the start, with a touch of the labels ingenuity and marketing and business stratagy, we wouldnt have amazing bands feeling like they have to struggle to make music, or giving up for "normal" jobs. I get bummed when i read about all the amazing bands who break up i.e. Acceptance. Its more than personal shit too, because if the label was taking care of them, the way they should have, the band would have done alot better sales wise, and a band like thrice, fuck, that band should be pushed more than 90% of the shit on the radio anyway. It just is what it is, until someone decides to change things up.

Originally Posted by NationalProduct

In my opinion, i think its important with todays "industry" to have a partnership. It shouldnt be one or the other. It should be a consistent 50/50 partnership of ideas, thoughts, actions and dedication. I think if more bands were given the oppurtunity to continue to build with the label what they started and what worked from the start, with a touch of the labels ingenuity and marketing and business stratagy, we wouldnt have amazing bands feeling like they have to struggle to make music, or giving up for "normal" jobs. I get bummed when i read about all the amazing bands who break up i.e. Acceptance. Its more than personal shit too, because if the label was taking care of them, the way they should have, the band would have done alot better sales wise, and a band like thrice, fuck, that band should be pushed more than 90% of the shit on the radio anyway. It just is what it is, until someone decides to change things up.

It makes no business sense for labels to change the status quo when the public's horrible tastes in music are not swaying much at all. If the Black Eyed Peas are selling, then they will get pushed, not Thrice.

Originally Posted by Steve Henderson

It makes no business sense for labels to change the status quo when the public's horrible tastes in music are not swaying much at all. If the Black Eyed Peas are selling, then they will get pushed, not Thrice.

it's just so unfortunate!

We can bitch all we want, but as long as people keep eating up poorly manufactured pop acts, they will keep making more and more of them.

You know, its a lot like hwo people around here buy up Cavaliers instead of Civics, its lazy ignorance. The same attitude goes into how most people approach the music they listen to. If its easily accessible, and doesnt challenge their mindset, they will eat it up.

As far as looking at acts as "brands" - he is right. The problem is, they only have one brand that they continue to sell over and over. There are so many different bands and types of music that can be pushed the same way, if they have a person with a brain behind the marketing. If this werent true - why are there sudden influxes of trendy genre's every so often? You can turn any musical act into a brand - you just have to think outside of the traditional distribution chain. As long as majors cling so dearly to radio and video as their selling source they are going to continue to cling to a dying chain of distribution and method of marketing.