8Sided Blog

a zine about sound, culture, and the punk rock dream

Watch: Good Looking Records Documentary from 1996

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Here’s a fantastic find that hopefully won’t get pulled offline anytime soon … it’s a BBC documentary from 1996 focusing on Good Looking Records and LTJ Bukem, right on the cusp of their peak.

Reminisce: People smoking in clubs! All the DJs playing vinyl! Excited that you can make a track in the studio and play it out a week later, but only after the dubplate is pressed! Worried that your record sales will suffer because a shop in Japan is selling cassette tapes of radio sets! One of the hottest DJs in Britain getting “as much as £1000” per gig!

In addition to all that, the doc is a brilliant glimpse into the international DJ and independent dance label scenes in the heyday of the mid-1990s. Many things are different, many things are the same. And business manager Tony Fordham’s adventures in Asia could be a documentary series of their own. Certainly worthy of an hour of your time.


Modern Times – LTJ Bukem Documentary (1996) by junglednbdocumentary

Your Favorite Label In The Age Of Streaming

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Hollywood Reporter:

Amid some big changes in the music industry, new RCA Records CEO Peter Edge and longtime colleague Tom Corson, who was promoted to president and COO in August, have officially shuttered historic labels Arista and Jive. J Records, launched by Clive Davis in 2000 as an “instant major,” will also see its artists bequeathed to RCA.



In the digital age, one might think these closures mean there is little value, awareness or loyalty to a label by name, but the execs insist it’s quite the opposite. “The concept is that there is value in branding RCA and not having it confused or diluted by other labels,” says Corson.


That’s an odd quote in answer to a statement about label identities not having value, as, of course, there is no real identity to the RCA ‘brand.’ The writer’s statement is perceptive, and brings up a good point. Labels seem to matter less and less as we rely on proprietary software for streaming music. Apple Music and Spotify only mention the label of origin on a release’s ‘page’ as a required copyright line in fine print at the bottom. One certainly can’t search for a favorite label and listen to a streaming ‘playlist’ of its new offerings, unless it is a pre-packaged playlist that someone put together to focus on that label. Spotify at least lets labels have profiles, which come up if you search for the label name. But these don’t offer much information beyond label curated playlists … not even a list of the latest releases.

I’ve written a bit about the problems with curation on streaming services, and removing label identity could be seen as a part of that issue. The labels that inspired me when I was young (Factory Records, SST, 4AD, and so on) had attraction as a type of curator, in that I knew what I was getting into – for the most part – if, for example, I listened to a 4AD release in the ’80s. There are certainly some great indie imprints active now that benefit from a closely moderated identity, sonic and otherwise. Or, at least, they could benefit, if the streaming services would give labels some credit.

But the quoted article above may reveal the problem. The major labels, being the ones that shout the loudest at the streamers, don’t need or care to foster this sonic identity. One could say Jive had a sound … there are a group of classic dance records that come to mind when I think of the label, and it could be argued they were identified by a certain pop style in recent decades. But that’s hardly important in the age of streaming, so it’s fine to make things less complicated and throw it all under the RCA blanket. And that makes sense for them … label identity, and having streaming services highlight labels and their intrinsic sounds, can only benefit the independents.

Dream Within A Dream: The Story Of Propaganda (and ZTT)

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This online article I ran across about ’80s electronic pop outfit Propaganda also serves as a short warts-and-all early history of ZTT, Trevor Horn’s always intriguing imprint:

(Paul) Morley had begun his career as a music writer. Famed for largely spearheading the career of Joy Division through his coverage in the NME, he had, however, in January 1983, immediately prior to receiving Propaganda’s demo, abandoned journalism so that he could concentrate on establishing ZTT (or Zang Tumb Tuum to give it its full title), together with producer Trevor Horn and Horn’s wife, Jill Sinclair.



While Jill Sinclair concentrated on its day-to-day management, and Horn produced the bands on its roster, Morley was ZTT’s publicist. Responsible for its carefully-crafted image, he designed most of its early record sleeves, often adorning them with secret messages and symbols, and became eventually involved in creating a clothing range for it. He also manufactured slogans for the label and in florid prose wrote manifestos and missive statements for it and its bands.



“ZTT’s main aim is to re-establish the glory of pop records as one of the fanciest and most fascinating ways of communication in the 20th century,” Morley proclaimed in a 1983 agenda in an early example of the exhibitionism, bluster and ambition for which his label would become renowned. “And to make ZTT the most interesting, provocative, crazy, and unpredictable record label of the ’80s.”


There’s a lot more of interest here for fans of ZTT, Propaganda, or tales of massive label / artist falling-outs. Here’s Part 1 and here’s Part 2.

While you’re at it, check out more of Paul Morley’s visual (and textual) influence on Art of ZTT … and Zang Tuum Tumb And All That is an impressive archive of all that pertains to the label.

This Company Is Selling A “Record Label In A Box” For £249

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FACT:

Ditto Music’s label in a box comes in three flavours: the £249 “Premium”, the £399 “Professional” and the eye-watering £3,499 “Enterprise” packages. Each box does most of the paperwork for you, including PPL license for claiming performance rights as well as IIRC codes for registering releases.



You also get certificates, a USB pen loaded with all your company data and personalised management suite software for monitoring and managing royalties. Each package also comes with a business bank account, label web domain and registration as a limited company with Companies House. You’ll still have to find decent music to release by yourself however.



You can find out more at the Ditto website, but it’s worth pointing out that you can achieve most of what the basic package offers for no money, so long as you have the time to spare.

A Radical Plan To Save The Big Music Labels: Shrink The Big Music Labels

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Re/code:

The late Dave Goldberg had (an) idea: He wanted to radically reinvent the modern music label, by cutting its staff and expenses dramatically, focusing almost entirely on digital and moving away from making new music.



Over the years, Goldberg would offer his prescription for the industry to anyone who would listen. Now the world can see it, via a memo he wrote to Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton last summer. The memo surfaced earlier this year via the Sony hack, and some industry folks have referenced it since then. I’m re-printing here because it’s relevant for the music industry, and any other business that is struggling to reinvent itself (that is, most industries).


The memo is an interesting read. Most of the recommendations are not quite applicable to smaller, independent labels — in fact, it’s suggested that Sony’s new release strategy emulate an independent label’s. But the take-away for non-major label operators comes from the memo’s emphasis on back catalog and publishing. Too many independents downplay both at their own peril. Even a mere few weeks after an album or single has been released I see most labels wipe it from the drawing board, with no more mention of it on their news feeds or social media and no attempt to repackage or rekindle interest in past releases. Goldberg was correct that not only is a strong back catalog valuable when it comes to licensing and synch, but past releases with a nurtured fan interest can earn consistent income in the world of streaming.

(h/t Jon Curtis)

Musicians Sue Universal, Sony And Warner Over Streaming Payments

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Music Business Worldwide:

The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) claims that the majors signed a collective bargaining agreement in 1994, and further amendments over the next decade, in which it committed to paying AFM members 0.5% of all receipts from digital statutory and non-statutory music licenses – including audio streams, ‘non-permanent downloads’ and ringback tones – both in North America and abroad.



The AFM’s Pension Fund has now filed a lawsuit in New York claiming its independent auditors recently discovered that the majors have failed to make promised contributions in three areas: (i) from streaming receipts outside the US; (ii) from non-permanent downloads outside the US; and (iii) from sales of ringback tones in the US and abroad.



“The record companies should stop playing games about their streaming revenue and pay musicians and their pension fund every dime that is owed,” said Ray Hair, AFM International President. “Fairness and transparency are severely lacking in this business. We are changing that.”


We’ll probably see a lot more of this over the next several years as we continue to navigate our covered wagons through the wild west of the streaming economy. It’s common knowledge — almost to the point of being grudgingly accepted — that the majors (and many independents) practice fuzzy mathematics when it comes to bookkeeping. But this will get tougher to obscure as the exact science of calculating ones and zeroes connecting to a user’s device replaces hand-counting the number of CD units leaving on a truck from the distributor’s warehouse. Keeping the gatekeepers honest (Spotify, Pandora, etc) will be the key. They aren’t angels, but they don’t have as much of an incentive for smoke-and-mirrors as a record label does.

“I Would Tell Any Young Artist … Don’t Sign.”

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NPR:

“Record contracts are just like — I’m gonna say the word – slavery,” Prince told a group of 10 journalists Saturday night, during a meet and greet at his Paisley Park Studios in Minneapolis. “I would tell any young artist … don’t sign.”



His pitch to the group was simple: Typical record company contracts turn artists into indentured servants with little control over how their music is used, particularly when it comes to revenue from streaming services playing their music online — and he wants to change that. He (also) advocated seeing artists paid directly from streaming services for use of their music, so that record companies and middlemen couldn’t take a share.


A good, if intentionally hyperbolic, message from The Purple One. His behavior regarding his catalog seems, from the outside, a bit erratic (to say the least) but he appears content in that he’s making these choices himself, and that’s commendable. However, if Prince is really interested in shaking things up then I’d love to see him follow Louis C.K.’s lead rather than hitching himself to Tidal.

Art Of The Record Sleeve

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DJBroadcast:

The ‘arty’ alternative bands of the 80s like New Order and Joy Division rarely used type over their imagery, and Peter Saville (graphic designer and art director of Factory Records) had always sold that as a way to create a global secret. A secret that would only be known by 500,000 fans, but anyone else going into the record shop wouldn’t have a clue who the group were. There were many record covers that came out looking obscure but that certain indie aesthetic wasn’t seen as commercial back then. But now there has been a 180-degree turn as the way that people browse and consume music has changed and is entirely online. – Philip Marshall


DJBroadcast is serving up a great series of interviews with record sleeve designers. It’s both inspiring and a tad melancholic, as I of miss the days when cover design (whether digital or physical) wasn’t the afterthought that it seems to be for most labels now.

Anyway, the site is two parts deep into the series. Part 1 (HERE) speaks with Philip Marshall who has done work for ZTT, one of my favorite labels with regards to design. Part 2 (HERE) features Lindsay Todd of Firecracker Records who uses his own printing press to fulfill his sleeve design dreams. Good stuff … I’m looking forward to future installments.

Optimo Music Clashes With Sony Over Post-Punk Compilation

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Resident Advisor:

Sony’s objection is to the compilation’s original title, Now That’s What I Call DIY! (Cult Classics From The Post-Punk Era 1978-82), which it says infringed its copyrighted Now That’s What I Call Music! series. Optimo Music head JD Twitch told RA: “I couldn’t reach an agreement with Sony to modify the existing sleeves that was either satisfactory to them or cost effective to me, so the original sleeves will be destroyed.” He says the process cost “several thousand pounds,” adding: “While the whole thing has been a nightmare and extremely annoying, really, the only person I am angry with is myself for not even considering it might be an issue.”


Oops. Regardless, the compilation looks very interesting. I’m stumped by most of the track list and that era’s loosely defined ‘post-punk’ is probably my favorite genre. I’m on board.

What Happens When An Artist Gets Dropped?

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From Noisey, a bit of a glimpse into the major label – artist business relationship and why signing that big deal is often more stick than carrot:

One thing Mike Smith (President of Music at Virgin EMI) is clear about, is that artists need to establish their own level of autonomy, so that their reliance is not entirely on the label. “Now more than ever it’s beholden on an artist and a manager to put the artist in a place where they are not vulnerable. The more work that an artist can do themselves, the stronger they’ll be. Because, what often can happen is an act can get signed on the vision of an A&R person but there just aren’t enough other things going on.”



Basically, whenever an artist enters any situation with a major label, they need to keep grounded, and keep their own worth at the forefront of their minds. “An artist gets it to a point where they’re already self sustainable and then labels swoop in and there’s going to come a point where these artists realize the reason why they’re swooping in and giving them all this money is because they can make ten times as much if they just keep doing what they’re doing,” JMSN (Christian Berishaj) says. “Take Chance the Rapper, he’s been offered million dollar deals and turned them down because obviously if they’re offering you million dollar deals then labels know they can make a whole lot more than that from you. When I meet with labels I ask, ‘What can you provide me that I’m not able to do myself?’ and more often than not there’s not a solid answer besides radio. Who the fuck is going to radio to discover music anymore? We live in a different time.”