How A&R changes with the Music Industry

Not at all

I’ve was reading about the relaunch of Steve Greenberg’s S-Curve Label. The man who brought you Who Let The Dogs Out, which unfortunately was the soundtrack to one of my college summers. This has got me thinking about how the concept of A&R is changing along with the changing Music Industry.

The Hits press release states about the initial signings of We the Kings and crooner Tom Jones.

“S-Curve’s philosophy is that in the present and future music business, recorded music, music publishing and artist management are, in effect, all one business designed to launch and develop artists. Toward that end, S-Curve will not only be releasing We the Kings’ debut album, but have also signed a worldwide music publishing agreement with the band, while S-Curve’s agreement with Jones gives the company the opportunity to become involved in a broad spectrum of licensing and sponsorship deals. Management ventures will include acquiring interest in established management companies, as well as direct artist signings."

This is not exactly a new philosophy. David Geffen perfected, if not pioneered, the practice with Ayslum records in the 1970’s. The reason that it fell by the wayside is that artists realized that it is not always in their best interests to have their manager and their label be the same entity, let alone publishing. Now as record sales decline labels need additional revenue and management is the fastest legal way to get a piece of the pie without the financial risk of revenue sharing. EMI’s revenue sharing deal with Korn was a nice idea in theory, but I bet my student loans get paid off before Korn makes back their 25 million dollar advance.

How does this affect A&R? Will it begin to create a utopian artist development era or will the definition of buzz band change to the first band music supervisors fall all over, as the new management-labels drool in anticipation of publishing revenue. I’ve often said that there needs to be a more collaborative relationship between artist and this is a start. There have been numerous companies that have tried this same approach without the same corporate pedigree. Thus far I have yet to see many break any artists or make any real money. I see no real change in the A&R process as the prestigious management companies get rolled up and start merging with labels. Good music should always rise to the top, and pretty faces are still attractive to advertising companies.

The real change is in marketing that music and those faces. I will be watching We the Kings very closely though as I expect to hear them in some of my favorite shows or hawking my favorite toothpaste very soon.

I will also be seeing them at the knitting factory in NYC at on July 31 with signing power pick Danger Radio.

The Parlor Mob

Ok, I have been absent for about a month, traveling and working... Sleeping. Thus I have neglected the blog. I had a lot of great ideas for interesting posts, but just no energy to write them. I went to the NBA draft (actually I got shut of out of tickets for the first time in five years) and the parallels between drafting and A&R are... well kind of obvious. Even the low level employees are called scouts in both professions. So my promise dear reader(s) is that I will do a comparison of the draft and some up and coming bands by next Friday. I have other ideas as well. Maybe if I make a public pledge then the writing will somehow come.

When I started this blog it was as an outlet for my A&R talents which are currently languishing in storage, but without all of my fancy tricks it is certainly harder. Though not impossible. Its still listening to music. Also I guess I'm not sure if I should be making witty comments about signings, like the recent signing of cast off Capitol bands by Roadrunner. Looks like Roadrunner is the New Capitol is a sample headline. Yeah, that is really funny. Of course that might be my next post because one of those bands is the Parlor Mob, which is a band that I really love and was disappointed that Capitol dropped them. I think that they capture a modern take on a classic rock sound It is the kind of music that makes you think you have heard it before even though it is brand new. I see this band as building on what Wolfmother started and making their own name, much like The Killers walked down the road paved by Kill Hannah.

Listen to the Parlor Mob

Parlor Mobs Myspace.

What is interesting about the deal, is that they recently were signed to In De Goot Management which is the management arm of Mcgathy. In De Goot has an imprint under Roadrunner and that is the label that signed them.

The band definitely showcased for a number of labels at Midland a few months back. I personally tried to drum up interest at several labels and there was definite interest or at least that was the rumor. Ultimately they signed with their own management company though which leads me to believe that there were few places ready to jump on any of the ex Capitol Bands.

The band is playing at Crash Mansion in NYC tomorrow Tuesday July 10th, which is a terrible venue for sound because of its misplaced soundbooth and low ceilings, but The Parlor Mob 's powerful psychedelic rock should be able to push through the venues limitations. I will be in attendance as I want to see how the band has progressed with the stress of losing their Capitol deal.