What's the Deal with the 360 Deal?

Yesterday, I attended a panel on 360 deals at Cardozo School of Law which featured speakers Amaechi Uzoigwe (Entrepreneur and co-owner, Definitive Jux Records), Elliot Resnik (Entertainment Attorney at Law) and Rand Levin (VP of Business and Legal Affairs, Universal Motown Republic Group). The panel which was moderated by Jeff Liebenson (Counsel at Herrick, Feinstein LLP) unleashed a wealth of viewpoints but still left me frustrated because there still seems to be an unwillingness to change. Amaechi who is a strong advocate for artists made the point that there are many other industries benefiting from the production of music and that the music industry should get a piece of those revenues. He pointed out that the $20 billion radio industry which was once a tool to promote recorded music no longer serves that purpose and as a result should now pay recorded music royalties as the rest of the world does. Amaechi also proposed a royalty on mp3 devices and video games instead of the current flat rate model. The 360 deal enables the record label to partake in an equity role with the artist, taking a piece of publishing, touring, merchandising and whatever revenue streams the artist generates via acting, sponsorship, etc. This potentially puts the label at war with the artist manager who traditionally gets a piece of everything the artist makes. Amaechi believes that industry people need to stop cannibalizing one another and work together to grow the pie and bring in music royalties. As the 360 deal becomes more prevalent it inherently changes the position of the record label and makes it well..no longer a record label and in a sense an entertainment agency. The biggest argument over 360 deals is that it is unfair to the artist and that major labels don't have the capacity to fulfill and work on the revenues they're claiming pieces of. Why should a record label receive money from an artist appearing on a television show or film which they had nothing to do in setting up? Rand argues that artists know they have to do more than music to do well and a 360 deal can help support that. I say only if the record labels are willing to change, completely change and serve the interest of the artists. The first step that majors should take is earning a stake in touring and being dedicated 100 percent in the success of an artist's tour and at the same time work with artists for their long term success not turning a hit every quarter. But corporate interests will always get in the way of this unfortunately, which is why the rise of the artistic middle class is so vital...so we can still have great music.

Do the Majors Need To Ease Control?...

According to Billboard.biz, Warner Music Group and EMI Music Group are filing suit against SeeqPod, which is an Internet music search engine service. EMI went even further "by naming several SeeqPod employees and investors as defendants." EMI is also suing Favtape, a music-on-demand site that uses the technology from SeeqPod to run it. I tried to access Favtape but found that it had a slow response. I don't know much about these sites or their popularity but I could see a possible infringement of copyrights if they are not making any royalty payments to the copyright owners. Gerd Leonhard is working on a book detailing the "End of Control" and that companies can no longer try to control their stakeholders but involve them and ensure that they have their trust. This is definitely right on when it comes to consumers, however it may be a slightly different case when other businesses are profiting from your intellectual property. I think in this case the majors may have a right in litigating for the protection of their most valuable asset. Although, when consumers are loyal to services such as SeeqPod and Favtape and see them shut down due to the majors suing them, the perception of control comes forth. Therefore it is important that the majors engage these companies and evolve to a new era of music consumption while protecting their content. I will be looking further into this subject and will have more posts to come.

New President of Epic - Amanda Ghost

Starting Feb. 16th, singer-songwriter, Amanda Ghost will begin her new post as President of Epic Records. Amanda Ghost has penned hits including "You're Beautiful" with James Blunt, "Tattoo" with Stargate for Jordin Sparks and "Beautiful Liar" performed by Shakira and Beyonce. Amanda Ghost was signed to Warner Brothers and released her debut album, "Ghost Stories," via the label in 2000, selling 200K units with virtually no promotion. She is now operating her creative endeavors under her own label, Plan A Records. Amanda Ghost making the move from music creator and performer to record exec is becoming more common as the lines between creatives and business executives blur. L.A. Reid, Jermaine Dupri, Jay-Z and Rick Rubin are some individuals who have tread both the creative and business avenues of the music biz.

Universal Music Japan Launches Delicious Deli Records

Universal Music Japan's Delicious Deli Records will be open for business beginning January 1, 2009 in an effort to bolster sales for existing U-music labels (Universal J, Nayuta Wave, Universal Sigma, Far Eastern Tribe and Milestone Crowds) in Japan. The idea for the new label is to track down Japanese artists who are active and successful in other geographic regions and import their music to Japan. Delicious Deli will also have the task of developing Japanese artists to groom them for success in other territories. Unlike Delicious Deli's sister labels its focus is much more concentrated on delivering content in a cross-cultural manner. Kimitaka Kato, managing director of Delicious Deli informed Billboard.biz that "Teaming up with artists who share the same vision as us, we would like to deliver good music that is loved by people across borders and generations."

A few artists that I checked out under the Universal Music Japan label include: Aoyama Thelma (pictured), Greeeen, Infinity 16 and Kimaguren. My personal favorite is Aoyama Thelma. Another Japanese artist to check out although not on the Universal Music Japan label is Utada Hikaru (EMI).