New hope for oldie rockers?
p2pnet news | Music:- Are you an elderly rocker past your prime?
Then this may interest you.
A UK investment bank, Ingenious Media PLC, “is financing comeback albums,” says the Wall Street Journal.
“Last month, it signed UB40, a reggae band that had a No. 1 hit in 1988 with the song ‘Red Red Wine.’ Other artists working on CDs for Ingenious include veteran rocker Peter Gabriel, and the techno punk band the Prodigy.”
Patrick McKenna’s Ingenious Media describes itself as an, ” independent and integrated group of companies advising and investing solely in media, thereby providing a unique service to clients and investors.”
Hard-up ancients Cliff Richard, Paul McCartney, (left and right), U2, Barry Gibb and Petula Clark probably already know about McKenna’s service.
They were, after all, high on the list of 4,500 or so performers who signed a newspaper advertisement calling on the UK government to extend the copyright in sound recordings to 95 years so they could winnow out a few more pennies from their tunes of yesteryear.
Ingenious Media pays for the acts’ music production, marketing and CD distribution, says the WSJ, noting that so far, “Ingenious has financed 15 albums and agreed to pay for seven more, spending roughly between $400,000 and $2 million each, according to regulatory filings.
“From that pipeline, two have been released. One, by a Welsh grunge band called The Heights, sold poorly. The other, by 1990s band Travis, is selling reasonably well, Ingenious says. Record labels typically expect 5% of their acts to be profitable.”
Ingenious has two music funds and gets a yearly fee for managing the funds, and 20% of any profits, says the story, going on:
“But the funds aren’t generating profits yet. Tax consultants say that most people are attracted because under United Kingdom law investors in the funds don’t have to pay tax on any profits and get a one-time discount on their overall tax bill.”
Meanwhile, “Record labels, hit by rampant piracy and falling profits, have been cutting back on the number of bands they support,” adds the WSJ.
“With the power of the big record companies diminishing, bands are trying new ways to put out music.”
Also See:
Wall Street Journal – Venture Capital, Rockin’ to the Oldies, August 24, 2007
extend the copyright – Big Music`s UK defeat, July 25, 2007
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August 24th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
I don’t wish bad things on these geezers. I just wish they would have a little class and step aside to let the current generation have it’s chance. Clogging up an already overcrowded market with generally weak senior citizen “comeback” albums is just kind of sad. The salad days are gone boys, never to return… BTW, I’m a “geezer” myself.
August 25th, 2007 at 5:52 am
“Clogging up an already overcrowded market with generally weak senior citizen âcomebackâ albums is just kind of sad.”
Well what is even MORE sad is the fact the these “new groups” of this “current generation” you speak of have little or no creativity! They rely on the talents of other artists and song writers from yaers past just to keep them afloat! How dumb is that?
Think of how many “current” artists are doing hit songs sung years ago.(Example: Hootie and the blowfish singing “goodbye girl” that was a song sung by David Gates of Bread orginally) Why can’t they come up with their OWN original sound?
You can tell sounds of the 50′s 60′s 70′s and 80′s….but from there the 90′s and 2000 do not have a “unique” sound.
This SHOULD be a time when you see new artists comming up with original stuff…but most of what you hear on mainstream is recycled trash. And independant radio is not much better.
So mabye there is a reason why people turn to something that is tried and true.
August 25th, 2007 at 11:48 am
“Clogging up an already overcrowded market with generally weak senior citizen âcomebackâ albums is just kind of sad.â
What is sad is your info is off track, the record industry by their own confession are not releasing new releases in the volume they use to. Music stores for many reasons are shutting down and overcrowding is not one of the reasons. The music industry problems boil down to four letters, RIAA.