Signing With EMI
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:26 pm
Excerpt from timesonline.co.uk article on the decline of EMI:
"For onlookers at other labels, this was the moment that EMI signed its own death warrant. Between 1990 and 2000 Marc Marot was managing director at Island Records, bringing artists such as PJ Harvey, Pulp and Nine Inch Nails to the label. As the CEO of a management company, helping emerging acts to sign record deals, he says: “It’s crazy that EMI should not be top of my shopping list. But the fact is that there’s no sense that this is a label with an A&R strategy. The idea that you only sign the acts that are sure to succeed is naive. The bigger picture is vital. In the pharmaceutical industry millions of pounds are spent developing drugs that never get approved for manufacture.”
On first inspection, those loss-making minor bands might seem to be a drain on resources. As Marot points out though, more often than not they’re the groups that play a key role in attracting future Radioheads and Coldplays to any label. “When I was at Island, we were desperate to sign PJ Harvey. She was suspicious of signing to a major label, but one day when she came to see us, it just so happened that Julian Cope was due in to do some recording in the studio downstairs. From my window on the top floor I saw him approaching. He was wearing a stripy T-shirt and the bottom half of a dog outfit, complete with tail. I said to [Harvey]: ‘Go and talk to Julian about creative control.’ They went to a nearby café together, and when she came back she signed the deal.”
In other words, Harvey signed the deal because she thought Island was the sort of place where she might be allowed to exist as an artist without necessarily having to turn a huge profit. During his time on Island Julian Cope didn’t recoup his advance, but Harvey has. And more importantly, her continuing presence on the label sends out a signal to other artists trying to decide which stable they should choose."
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 141990.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"For onlookers at other labels, this was the moment that EMI signed its own death warrant. Between 1990 and 2000 Marc Marot was managing director at Island Records, bringing artists such as PJ Harvey, Pulp and Nine Inch Nails to the label. As the CEO of a management company, helping emerging acts to sign record deals, he says: “It’s crazy that EMI should not be top of my shopping list. But the fact is that there’s no sense that this is a label with an A&R strategy. The idea that you only sign the acts that are sure to succeed is naive. The bigger picture is vital. In the pharmaceutical industry millions of pounds are spent developing drugs that never get approved for manufacture.”
On first inspection, those loss-making minor bands might seem to be a drain on resources. As Marot points out though, more often than not they’re the groups that play a key role in attracting future Radioheads and Coldplays to any label. “When I was at Island, we were desperate to sign PJ Harvey. She was suspicious of signing to a major label, but one day when she came to see us, it just so happened that Julian Cope was due in to do some recording in the studio downstairs. From my window on the top floor I saw him approaching. He was wearing a stripy T-shirt and the bottom half of a dog outfit, complete with tail. I said to [Harvey]: ‘Go and talk to Julian about creative control.’ They went to a nearby café together, and when she came back she signed the deal.”
In other words, Harvey signed the deal because she thought Island was the sort of place where she might be allowed to exist as an artist without necessarily having to turn a huge profit. During his time on Island Julian Cope didn’t recoup his advance, but Harvey has. And more importantly, her continuing presence on the label sends out a signal to other artists trying to decide which stable they should choose."
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 141990.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
