[Infowarrior] - Record label defections by major acts a troubling sign

[Richard Forno]

Record label defections by major acts a troubling sign for recording
industry

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071009-record-label-defections-by-maj
or-acts-a-troubling-sign-for-recording-industry.html

By Anders Bylund | Published: October 09, 2007 - 02:02PM CT

When Brit-rock veterans Radiohead decided to self-publish their next album
online, it was a bucket of ice-cold water over the heads of EMI, Sony BMG,
Warner Music, and all the rest of the old-school industry elephants. It was
also the starting shot for other artists to do the same, inspired by a
respected band's first leap of faith into a brave new world.

It's already a trans-Atlantic phenomenon. Trent Reznor of Cleveland-based
Nine Inch Nails is calling his band a "free agent, free of any recording
contract with any label," and envisions a more intimate relationship with
his audience as a result.

And it doesn't stop there. Now with two top-notch acts in the game, others
are sure to follow as their contracts expire or come up for renegotiation.
Jamiroquai and Oasis don't have contracts at the moment, and rumor has it
that these acts might be the next to follow Radiohead and NIN out of the
established record industry traditions. The new era likely won't have the
plethora of the restrictions that give both consumers and bands migraine
headaches today.
The other side of the coin

Those headaches were touched up by Yahoo Music's general manager Ian Rogers,
who just told a room full of label execs to do away with DRM and artificial
restrictions on the music their customers want to hear, for the good of
consumers and businesses alike. He thinks Amazon is doing the right thing
with its unencumbered MP3 sales, and said that he will refuse to sign any
new distribution deals that make it hard for his users to get and use the
content they want. There's simply no way to improve on Ian's explanation of
why tight controls aren't worth the hassle:

"Want radio? No problem. Click play, get radio. Want video? Awesome. Click
play, get video. Want a track on-demand? Oh have we got a deal for you! If
you're on Windows XP or Vista, and you're in North America, just download
this 20MB application, go through these seven install screens, reboot your
computer, go through these five setup screens, these six credit card
screens, give us $160 dollars and POW! Now you can hear that song you wanted
to hear‹if you're still with us," writes Rogers.

According to Rogers, Yahoo! didn't want all those steps, but the record
labels demanded it. "It's a slippery slope from 'a little control' to
consumer unfriendliness and non-Web-scale products and services," he said,
and Yahoo Music won't put up with it anymore. And neither should anyone
else, he believes. He's not alone: most UK music fans believe that DRM-free
music is the only music worth buying.

So far, EMI is on board the DRM-free music train, with UMG on for a trial
ride. Radiohead's management says that the free-download experiment is
working out very well so far, driving an 11-fold traffic boost to the band's
Web site and converting plenty of those hits into sales of premium boxed
sets for £40 a pop.

That wasn't even the goal here. Musicians who give away their music for free
generally just want to inspire some merchandise sales and improve their
concert attendance. But Radiohead's success proves that the new medium can
make new things happen and that you can cut out the record label middleman
without losing touch with the audience or much in the way of revenues. It
works for big, established acts at least, and direct distribution gives the
little guy a fighting chance too. Wasn't that how MC Hammer got started,
after all?