acetheface954
Active member
Elvis Presley worked for an independent label until he started to be noticed on a national level, then RCA/Columbia came knocking and bought out his contract with Sun Studios/Records
it was a case of there was so much money floating around that it was all but impossible to refuse the offers (that Presley got himself new management that made some of the decisions for him didn't help Sun Records - they would have grown very quickly on the back of Presley's dominance of the market place, but they may not have had the initial capital to market him as needed)
I.E. the accountants and other money men in the music business do not like the idea of forgoing profits for the sake of others being successful - they will buy contracts and then stifle an artist so that they fall out of favour, refuse to release albums because they are not up to scratch (which is usually not true, but the reason proffered), refuse to allow a released artist (someone whose contract has lapsed) to use their name as it is the property of the label (Prince /Love Symbol/Artist formerly known as Prince)
this has been the history of the music business since the 1910's, back then it was white guys get the publicity and black guys get the shaft, unless you happened to be smart about your business - consider the success fo cab calloway as a young man and an old man
all the commentary in the article is pointing to the need for individuals and artists/groups to be business smart rather than relying on pipe dreams and promises/prophecies that are lies or half-truths
i must admit that not being business savvy is what kept me back in my early years. if i knew then what i know now...SMH.
I don't know, man. To me, after I read the whoe article and took the autor's words into consideration, it seems that this guy is over-protecting the major labels. Like was said here before: "go get a regular job, you don't belong in the music industry." - this stance is, to me, someone who is afraid of things that are to come (like the powerless major labels, or the arise of independent artists).
lol yeah that's basically how I took it. "we don't need anymore artists. thank you for trying out but we're good". things can get misinterpreted mind you. i wouldn't say he's protecting the labels but I would say he sees trouble up the road.