[AktiviX] Just Say 'No' to Record Labels

[Paul Mobbs]

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http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,62050,00.html/wn_ascii

Just Say 'No' to Record Labels 

Associated Press Page 1 of 1
WIRED: 03:12 PM Jan. 26, 2004 PT


CANNES, France -- Rock veterans Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno are launching a 
provocative new musicians' alliance that would cut against the industry grain 
by letting artists sell their music online instead of only through record 
labels.

With the Internet transforming how people buy and listen to songs, musicians 
need to act now to claim digital music's future, Gabriel and Eno argued 
Monday as they handed out a slim red manifesto at a huge deal-making music 
conference known as Midem. 

They call the plan the "Magnificent Union of Digitally Downloading Artists" -- 
or MUDDA, which has a less lofty ring to it.

"Unless artists quickly grasp the possibilities that are available to them, 
then the rules will get written, and they'll get written without much input 
from artists," said Eno, who has a long history of experimenting with 
technology.

By removing record labels from the equation, artists can set their own prices 
and set their own agendas, said the two independent musicians, who hope to 
launch the online alliance within a month.

Their pamphlet lists ideas for artists to explore once they're freed from the 
confines of the CD format. One might decide to release a minute of music 
every day for a month. Another could post several recorded variations of the 
same song and ask fans what they like best.

Gabriel, who has his own label, Real World Records, said he isn't trying to 
shut down the record companies -- he just wants to give artists more options.

"There are some artists who already tried to do everything on their own," he 
said, adding that those musicians often found out they didn't like marketing 
or accounting. "We believe there will be all sorts of models for this."

A representative with the venture said other musicians had expressed interest 
in participating in the alliance, but did not provide names.

One band that has found its niche online is the jam band Phish, which sells 
downloads of its concerts on a popular website.

The band's relationship with its devoted fans is often compared to that of the 
Grateful Dead, and the site is another chance for close contact. But it also 
generates plenty of money: more than $2.25 million in sales since 2002.

What's driving the movement is the success of legitimate download sites such 
as Apple's Internet music store, iTunes, which sells songs for $1 a pop in 
the United States.

Both Gabriel and Eno started their careers in the 1960s and remain immensely 
influential.

As a means to help unsigned artists, their effort "is certainly going to be a 
valuable and interesting thing to do," said Josh Bernoff, principal analyst 
with Forrester Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"But for anyone (already) signed it's almost certainly a violation of their 
contract," said Bernoff, who addressed the conference over the weekend. "It's 
not in a record company's best interest to have large pieces of music out 
there that they don't have control of."

Gabriel co-founded a European company, On Demand Distribution, which runs 
legal download sites in 11 European countries.

The company would provide the technology for MUDDA, though Gabriel and Eno are 
looking for online partners.

Europe's sites haven't yet caught up to the success of the U.S. portals. 
Apple's iTunes, for example, is planning a European launch this year, which 
is expected to build interest in legal downloading in a market where many 
people don't realize there's even such a thing.

Because both legal and illegal sites offer tunes a la carte, many in the 
industry believe they'll make albums less important by putting the focus on 
catchy singles.

Eno and Gabriel both suggested they'd welcome a chance to make songs that 
stand alone.

"I'm an artist who works incredibly slowly," Gabriel said. "If some of those 
(songs) could be made available, you don't have to be so trapped into this 
old way of being confined only by the album cycle."

The former Genesis singer and world music promoter is interested in putting 
multiple versions of the same song online. He's also looking forward to being 
able to hear unfinished music from other artists.

"We tend at the moment ... to try to find a moment when a song is right. You 
stick the pin in the butterfly and put it in the box and you sell the box," 
he said. "Music is actually a living thing that evolves." 



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"We are not for names, nor men, nor titles of Government, nor are we for
this party nor against the other but we are for justice and mercy and
truth and peace and true freedom, that these may be exalted in our nation,
and that goodness, righteousness, meekness, temperance, peace and unity
with God, and with one another, that these things may abound."
(Edward Burroughs, 1659 - from 'Quaker Faith and Practice')


Paul Mobbs, Mobbs' Environmental Investigations,
3 Grosvenor Road, Banbury OX16 5HN, England
tel./fax (+44/0)1295 261864

email - mobbsey at gn.apc.org
website - http://www.fraw.org.uk/mobbsey/index.html



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