Counting Crows Crow About ‘Limitless Possibility’ Of Internet

The concept of band meets agent and signs record deal is changing as the evolution of technology is allowing for new options, making the musical food chain much smaller as the middle man seems to be no longer needed.

Realizing this Counting Crows have just ended their eighteen-year label relationship with Geffen Records that is a part of Universal Music Group. On the band’s website. Adam Duritz writes: “These days, it’s a different world for a band than it is for a label. The Internet opens a world of limitless possibility, where the only boundaries are the boundaries of your own imagination”, deploying the verbal platitudes that have made his inoffensive dreadlocked lyricism such a big seller.

Counting Crows join the recent ranks of other famous musicians who have opted to go it alone like Nine Inch Nails, and Badly Drawn Boy. Some, like Saul Williams and Girl Talk, have gone even further and “done a Radiohead” by doing a pay-what-you-want method for their record releases. These musicians are taking their music outside of the normal label and distributor arena – changing the corporately constructed ideals of how the industry should work by taking this digital route. And the labels are starting to realize that they have to adapt to a product that people demand is free.

The musician who is waving his finely jeweled middle finger at the record companies the most enthusiastically is Prince, who memorably dubbed himself “Slave” for a while following his contempt for record labels not letting him release every sprawling mid-90s mess he created. In 2005 he released his 1997 Crystal Ball album on line and offered fans exclusive tracks via the site; now Prince is launching a new website which offers fans a digital array of content. When the site officially launches on the 24th, fans can pay a $77 annual fee that will offer them VIP access to tracks from his upcoming album and other goodies. In effect he’s setting up his own digital distribution model rather than relying on third parties like iTunes.

Besides these new ventures the purple velvet clad superstar has entered a relationship with Target, the 1,677-store discount chain, so that they are the exclusive retail outlet for his new three-disc set. The Prince collection features two original studio albums, LOtUSFLOW3R and MPLSoUND, and Elixer (the debut of his new charge, Bria Valente). Target will bundle all three albums for $11.98 starting on the 29th. Shacking up with a retailer is not new and has proven to be quite a profitable venture lately, as the Eagles and AC/DC released their most recent albums through Wal-Mart exclusively.

Retail hook ups aren’t necessarily everyone’s thing so some artists are taking other unique routes to generate the dolla dolla bills and attract fans. Last weekend, The Sunday Times gave away free recordings of a Noel Gallagher performance in a probable bid to generate reader’s for the Times and sales for Gallagher. On top of that Gallagher is doing a Gwen Stefani and designing his own clothing line called Pretty Green – expect lots of black collared jackets.

Or how about join up with the gaming industry like Apple’s iPhone and its free music game called Tap Tap Revenge, that has over more than three million users since it launched in July, and for which bands submit music, plus of course the rights and visibility gained from Guitar Hero, who basically launched Dragonforce into the American market with their carpal-tunnel-inducing “Through The Fire And Flames”.

Not to mention the possibility of becoming a brand pawn like the Groove Armada/Bacardi partnership, or the Madonna and Live Nation deal – the two formed a profitable partnership giving the company an all-encompassing stake in the music of the Material Girl when she left her label for them, Jay-Z also dropped Def Jam for a $150m deal with Live Nation.

And we can’t look at recent music industry shakeups without mentioning Spotify, which allows members to stream and store all of the music that they want for free; every few songs you are required to listen to an advert.

Is this the future? A free CD with your gig ticket, but part way through Gallagher will change his wardrobe and give you a detailed outline of the products? It’s a strange time, as the industry coalesces around the idea of advertising funding free product, and the conventional haven of the record shop being spread across other retailers. It’s basically the death of purism – the hallowed physical object (CD or vinyl) is dying, while music as pure entertainment comes to exist across ever more media – adverts, TV soundtracks, mobile phones on the bus. The artists will complain as they’ll have to work harder, but the consumer is certainly the champion in the future.

Posted by Trista Orchard in Creative Economy | March 20, 2009 6:05PM |