Domino and AEG urge industry to back mid-career artists

Domino Records chief Laurence Bell and AEG UK's MD Jessica Koravos have both urged the music industry to resist the lure of the new, because we're in danger of having loads of brand new bands and loads of ageing rockers, but no middle career bands. Speaking at MIDEM, Bell said that labels should be more willing to make a sustained investment in their artists, helping them develop their own careers past albums one and two, rather than always spending their cash trying to sign the next big thing. And he's right you know. Koravos observed that the big live music arenas of the world that are doing so well are mainly being filled by artists in their 40s, 50s and 60s, and that not enough mid-career artists are being developed to take their place. Admitting that the live sector shouldn't solely rely on the recorded music sector to do that developing, she said AEG is considering ways to get more involved in artists' career development, either through an artist relations division like that being set up by their competitors Live Nation, or by forging closer relationships with existing record labels.