I went to bed early last night ,woke up at 3 and couldn't go back to sleep.....but don't worry it has given me a lot of time to think about " the state of the music business " ...a business I have had the privilege of being a part of all my working life .
I've sold records from in a jeans shop in Brighton in the '70's ,driven a van round London delivering imports to Groove,Record Corner,All Ears and all the great specialist Soul shops ,sold records in City Sounds then signed some of the greatest British Soul/Dance and Electronic talent ever . In short I'm more than qualified to pass judgement on the state of A & R in the UK music business .
A&R ( signing and developing talent ) is the heartbeat of any label.....a label is only as good as the artists you sign ,so in my case the labels were brilliant .
I will give you 3 reasons why I think the level of A&R is at an all time low now ,3 " artists " who had albums released this week
1) James Blunt ....who on earth thought the world need another album by this arse ? Atlantic Records did
2) I Blame Coco....I don't ,I blame the bloke that signed her to Island
3) Jamiroquai .....the prat in the hat is back with another risible slice of " Soul " .Please take the time to check the album sleeve ,it is truly hilarious . It shows a middle-aged man (" Jay Kay " , as we call him ) onstage pulling a face that makes it look as if he is having a particularly painful dump whilst wearing one of his grandma's lightshades on his head...priceless !
In all cases fortunes have been spent on projects with absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever .Utter shit !
Thats why the record business is in trouble - it's not "illegal downloading - noone wants shit like this ,even for free- its the failure to sign and develop great artists .
To show I know what I'm talking about today I'm going to start posting youtube clips of great songs that bands I signed released...this will be a great series to follow !
However there IS great music to be found all over the place ,just not at any major . Today's featured artist is a great British female Soul singer who I have had the pleasure of seeing live at the last 2 Big Chills.Her live show is astonishing a real Soul revue ,she has a full band including 3-piece brass-section as good as the legendary Tower Of Power brass section,backing vocalists , is a true eccentric and a fantastic live performer .......come on down ALICE RUSSELL !!!!
She wrtites all her own material and her latest album ,Pot Of Gold is great ! My personal favourite album is " My Favourite Letters " but check her out on youtube ,especially any live footage . She tours quite a lot and I can't recommend her highly enough ,it is a GREAT night out !
Right, thats got that off my chest. I feel really good ,ready for the fray and confident that no matter what life throws at me I will survive
Go in peace X
No comments:
Post a Comment