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Business News Labels & Publishers The Great Escape 2011
Former EMI chief defends the record label, though calls for more transparency and innovative licensing
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 16 May 2011
A new report on how record companies have evolved to cope with the challenges of the digital era is published today, having been launched at The Great Escape on Friday.
Penned by BPI Chair and former EMI UK chief Tony Wadsworth for MusicTank, the paper challenges the idea that record labels are outdated ‘dinosaurs’. Based on interviews with key players from across the music business, including the majors, independents, managers and agents, the report presents a “diversified recordings business with broader skill sets, able to better manage costs and work with a wider variety of more flexible artist deals”. The report does make some suggestions for changes in the industry, though, including a call for more innovation in licensing and more transparency so that all stakeholders feel rewarded for their efforts.
Following his keynote address at The Great Escape on Friday, Wadsworth told reporters: “With input from people from across the industry I have tried to explain the recent evolution of the record label, take the temperature of the industry in 2011, and extrapolate the key trends. I don’t claim to have all the answers but I hope to give some perspective to the key changes in an industry that’s adapting to a radically new environment without a template, map or guide book”.
Welcoming the report, one of those industry players interviewed, Beggars Group boss Martin Mills, told CMU: “Record labels are at the heart of the music industry, and it’s timely, after the upheavals of the last decade, to take stock and assess the prospects for the record label in the years ahead. Tony’s lifetime label experience combined with an analytical approach will certainly bring some clarity to the picture, and help push forward the debates around the future of the wider music industry”.
The report is available from www.musictank.co.uk for £45, including a year’s membership to MusicTank. It will feed into a MusicTank conference on 14 Jul, more info on which to follow.
