BigChampagne's Ultimate Chart (a/o February 10th):
1. “What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger),” Kelly Clarkson
2. “Set Fire to the Rain,” Adele
3. “Turn Me On,” David Guetta
4. “Rack City,” TYGA
5. “Good Feeling,” Flo Rida
6. “Smooth Criminal (Glee Cast Version),” Glee Cast
7. “Young, Wild & Free,” Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa
8. “Domino ,” Jessie J
9. “Sexy and I Know It,” LMFAO
10. “Ass Back Home ,” Gym Class Heroes
Radiohead was propelled by the major label system. But looking forward, Thom Yorke is telling bands to skip the machine. In a recent interview, Yorke warned young artists that the music industry establishment is a "sinking ship" with "months rather than years" before a collapse.
Instead of hitching to that hull, the singer urged bands to self-release, and keep control in turbulent times. "I guess I would say, don't tie yourself to the sinking ship because, believe me, it's sinking," Yorke said. The interview was conducted for the not-yet-released Rax Active Citizen Toolkit, oddly a textbook.
Good advice? Yorke walks the walk on this one, and his former label EMI is now in dire straits. But Radiohead is largely a pre-digital success story, making it difficult to pick apart real innovation from previous tailwinds. Radiohead's name-your-price concept stirred a tremendous amount of excitement, but its broader application for emerging artists could be unimportant. Indeed, Radiohead admitted that most fans paid nothing for the In Rainbows album, and resulting studies revealed that BitTorrent downloads easily outpaced official site downloads.
Meanwhile, Radiohead's enmity towards its former label carries a bit of hypocrisy, though major label tie-ups are typically complicated affairs for artists. "When the corporate industry dies it will be no great loss to the world," Yorke continued.
Comments Closed
keithmohr Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Would many know about Peter Yorke if it were not for their label who told the world about his band? Seems a bit hypocritical to me. Typical artist... They seek out the path of least resistance and burn anything that gets in their path. Just like lighting:)
And, the MUSIC Industry is quite healthy.
It's the RECORDING Industry that is seriously gasping for consumer $$ and groundbreaking artists.
rossrichardsn@gmail.com Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Too right! I don't even know who Peter Yorke is!
keithmohr Wednesday, June 09, 2010
whoops! Thom Yorke.. been a long day!
PartlyCloudy Thursday, June 10, 2010
agreed. Yorke would never have the platform to stand on here had it not been for EMI. Yet, I still think he has a point here. I don't think it's months away, but the recording industry (if we can specify that at least) is in more trouble than many might want to admit here. EMI obviously, but also hearing WMG is facing major problems because the CD is just spiraling downward so quickly.
Sheer Zed Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thank you for this interesting article and pertinent comments. I have had the pleasure of watching Paul Resnikoff speak at London Calling a couple of years ago and always read this excellent blog. Thom and the band have indeed had the privilege of a major engine behind their work. It has given them the depth and breadth of marketing and support that many countless artist/labels such as myself can only dream about. There is a flip side though for doing business with a major. EMI are attached to a subsidiary sister company EMI/Thorn, the weapons manufacturer. I agree though that Thom's criticism of his former label though is basically arrogant. EMI has helped some of the finest names in British music to release their work. I dearly love Radiohead but not the politics or the whining. Running my own digital label, marketing, production and all of the hats that go with this profession is not just time consuming but also very frustrating at times when attempting to balance/multi-task all of this at the same time as professionally as possible. Yes, it's a pleasure to have your work released as and when/what/how you wish it. Synchronising all of the elements though is still an issue that I'm personally still attempting to resolve. As for the sinking ship...it's way beyond that now. Music sadly has been seriously devalued by all of us. Indeed since the Payola scandal of early Rock 'n' Roll the number of death rattles has just grown and grown. Corruption within and without the "industry" (a term that I find distasteful unless it's describing the music genre) have pressurised the few true ethical professionals and pushed aside/turned off the many decent folk that are indeed still there; devoted, sincere and passionate. It's always a minority isn't it? Having myself being briefly been placed inside the bowels of a major labels machinations while being an unpaid PA for an artist showed me that the "ship" was scuttled many many years ago. On a lighter note, I am an artist/label and don't just walk the walk, I'm quietly pleased to say that I have just recently broke into a light jog!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jurMaUXSC3M
alias2u2 Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thom Yorke left EMI and signed to SONY owned RED distribution through Dave Mathews label ATO. Radiohead is still with major corporate owned distribution! His latest rhetoric telling artists not to go there because he doesn't is total hypocrisy, trickery with words, and mostly just a lie!
Sheer Zed Thursday, June 10, 2010
Enlightening and fascinating. Thank you for your comment. There you go, what a shame but ultimately no surprise.
keithmohr Thursday, June 10, 2010
The recording industry is reaping what it sowed for years.. Using and screwing artists with funny accounting and unfair deals, charging customers way too much for CDs..controlling distribution, payola to stations and promoters...
Like they say, Karma.. she is a bitch.
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