Friday 20 March 2009
CMW 2009
Often a staple on the conference calendar for Europeans on their way to SXSW, the 27th annual CMW made the news in its own right this year for a clash of egos between commentator Bob Lefsetz and Kiss’ Gene Simmons, who agreed to a last-minute interview that became the centre stage event for the conference.
That this so-called 'cage-match' was more talked and written about than anything else at the event should remind conference organisers that no matter how many interesting speakers you book or the ground-breaking topics you cover, it's the ego-driven bitch-fests that will win out.
The tone of the clash had been previously set with Lefsetz's email response to Simmons' opening day keynote. Lefsetz described Simmons' speech as “a full time commercial...a product promotion for the latest iteration of Simmons Records.” And indeed it was. We're told that this joint venture between Universal Canada and Simmons Records is bankrolled by a Canadian multi-millionaire's daughter. Simmons responded publicly to the email shortly after it was published, then over dinner later that night, CMW president Neill Dixon proposed the hastily-organised 'cage-match'. Lefsetz's assertion that Gene setting up a label in Canada (rather than in his own backyard) seemed suspicious was neither here nor there but it led them to a packed conference room to set out both their arguments.
“What is your track record behind the scenes?” asked Lefsetz, “I discovered Van Halen and managed Liza Minnelli, what have you done, bitch?” Simmons fired back before continuing to plug his JV with Universal Canada. Lefsetz continued to soapbox the opinions he'd already blogged about: why bands shouldn't sign to majors, how Gene was thinking like a dinosaur and shamelessly promoting instead of 'giving back'. The low blows came from Simmons, but Lefsetz was able to put him in his place, drawing upon facts such as the way in which Simmons’ solo album bombed.
It might be the only panel we've sat through where a rock star was accused of being “an asshole” to his face. Simmons was brave and/or foolish to take up the offer for take part in the face-off: he was never going to come off well. In a room full of people who get The Lefsetz Letter and appreciate his rants, the last word would always be left to Bob. Within a couple of hours after the 'debate' Lefsetz had sent out his impressions of his meeting with Simmons to his subscriber list. Game over.
This public spat may have been an entertaining diversion from dry panels about mobile music, but it was also a childish argument and a depressing glimpse of lowest-common denominator debating. CMW and other conferences like it would do well to have more confrontation on their schedules, but not like this.
The recent Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications new media hearings threw up a few hot topics for debate, which gained relevance for us in the light of industry reactions in the UK towards the interim Digital Britain report. The question of the role ISPs will play going forward was in sharp focus on one panel led by IFPI chairman John Kennedy and featuring Canadian Recording Industry Association president Graham Henderson, as well as representatives from Canadian indies, publishing and the broadcast industry. Henderson said Canada has lagged behind other countries when it comes to setting anti-piracy initiatives, and was hopeful that ISPs and labels could work more closely in future, despite his reckoning that there would not be any financial incentive for the ISPs to engage meaningfully with the industry.
The SOCAN-sponsored (the Canadian collection agency) 'The Life Of A Song' panel proved particularly interesting and spelled out the life-span a hit song can potentially achieve. Randy Bachman (ex-Bachman Turner Overdrive) told the audience the story of the conception and recording of his hit 'Takin' Care Of Business'. What was fascinating was the connection the song had made with the public and the money it had made in all its various uses over the years. The songwriter's complete integrity in brokering deals on those uses was also evident. Bachman peppered his speech with fantastic anecdotes throughout: turning down $1m from a beer brand as he didn't want to be associated with alcohol promotion, then holding out for a longer-lasting and more lucrative relationship with Office Depot, which made the song both its signature tune and slogan. The session offered a sweet reminder that all you need is one hit to set you up. And that you can be an ageing 70's rocker and still work hard with dignity – Gene Simmons, take note.
CMW is a dependable and useful conference. In a year when slightly fewer of the international delegates were joining festivities in Austin, this was a manageable and relaxed atmosphere to do business in. At the very least, the value in conferences like these lays in the thrashing out of new ideas and discussion of hot topics. Even if it wasn't genuinely agenda-setting, CMW keeps apace with its competitors with a mixture of interesting debates. Perhaps the sideshows like Lefsetz/Simmons are best kept to the playground in future, though.
Tuesday 3 March 2009
No Eyeliner on the Horizon: Nicola Slade owns up to being a massive U2 fan and ponders the kerfuffle over the band’s new release in the last week.
I am a massive U2 fan and I’m not ashamed to say it. In 1989, my uncle gave me a copy of Rattle ‘N’ Hum on cassette and on the long drive back from London to the Hampshire countryside listening to it on my Walkman, my life changed. Up until then, at the ripe old age of 13, I only had three albums: two Now compilations and the best of ELO, which my father bought me for Christmas aged four when he realised that every time they came on the radio, I danced around the front room like I’d drunk too much squash.
U2 are partly responsible for me wanting to be in the music industry – them and the Motown label. By nine, I’d decided to become a journalist, by the time I was 13, on hearing U2, I decided I wanted to be a music journalist. In 1991, when the band released Achtung Baby, I won a pre-release copy on Simon Mayo’s show and owing to my ‘huge enthusiasm’, Radio 1 asked if I would review the record live on air the next day, which I did. Rather amusingly, I couldn’t get my head around the change in direction and partly slated it. It later became my favourite U2 album. However, all of this set my plans in stone: I would head to London as soon as possible and get myself a writing job about music.
When I was 17, I spent all the money I had in the world (earned by working three jobs while doing my A Levels) on following the band around the UK and Ireland throughout the summer, sleeping in the back of a car. Bono pulled me up on stage to dance with him at Wembley Stadium, which was knee-shakingly exciting. I once spent £100 (a lot for a 15-year-old) on buying the stolen Achtung demos at a local record fair. Even when the PR sends me a free copy of the album, I still go out and buy it, just for the thrill. I have a special U2 box with everything they have ever released in a locked box under my bed. Yes: that’s the level of my fanaticism. How uncool must this seem to a bunch of music industry types?!
Watching all the kerfuffle about the release of No Line On The Horizon has consequently been particularly interesting for me, given my ‘obsession’. There have been a couple of comments on our message board this week which have stirred my thoughts - complaints are circulating in the media that the BBC has handed Universal untold amounts of free publicity in the run-up to the release and secondly, because the band decided to stream the album upfront on Spotify, some people seem to think the album sales will be affected.
If you click here, you can see the BBC U2 coverage: a Culture Show exclusive, two slots of R1, one on R2 and a R4 Front Row show. There will also be another announcement by tomorrow which involves the band and the BBC, but I’ve been sworn to absolute secrecy and can’t reveal what is. As a U2 fan, I’m loving it. Lauren Laverne certainly did a fantastic – and enviable job – in interviewing them for the Culture Show. I’m even at that stage where I have temporarily forgotten my gripes: Bono parading himself in the limelight with world leaders, the band switching their cash to Dutch tax-free accounts from Dublin, just in time for the economic meltdown which to-date has been felt more painfully in Ireland than other European countries, the Boyzone ‘moment’ in Sweetest Thing, the hairweave, the ‘re-applying for the job of best band in the world’ and so on ad infinitum.
As a working member of the music industry (or should that be ‘serving’ the music industry?), I am slightly miffed by the BBC’s unprecedented coverage of U2’s new release. The BBC’s level of support towards the music industry is good, but by no means great – look at the debacle over TOTP for a start. The BBC is great when it’s delivering coverage of one-off events: Glastonbury, for example, or Summer Sundae on 6Music. The playlisting on R1 and R2, in my opinion, leaves a lot to be desired, but on the other hand, without Steve Lamacq, Colin Murray, Mark Riley and Gideon Coe, in particular, many new bands wouldn’t get the national coverage they deserve. Overall, I would argue that the industry’s relationship with the BBC is hit and miss. However, Universal’s relationship with the BBC is quite obviously alive and kicking. One can't help but wonder if the label group’s dominance in recorded music extends to influence over the Beeb? Maybe I’m being cynical, but if a very healthy relationship exists (and no doubt with the arrival of Lesley Douglas that relationship continues to flourish), then perhaps Universal could use its power for good? Lobbying for the return of some more music TV programming would be a good start.
With regards to the fellows who see technological advances as damaging to album sales, I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest it’s all nonsense. No doubt the album sales figures will tell the full story, but No Line On The Horizon’s pre-release streaming on Spotify will not stop the fans, heading out in hoards, snapping up every available format there is. As my brief re-telling of my teenage U2 obsession reveals, I would have bought anything on offer and my first album by U2 was a copy! What was interesting about the U2/Spotify deal was that Apple seems to have been sidelined: no limited edition iPods and iTunes exclusives this time around. It’s undoubtedly interesting to see how the band uses the latest ‘killer app’ for their own purposes: a freedom which isn’t open to all bands, that’s for sure.
Anyway, turn off your TV and radio now if you’re sick of the sight of Bono’s face. The machine is in mid-flight and there’s some time to go before it lands.
U2 are partly responsible for me wanting to be in the music industry – them and the Motown label. By nine, I’d decided to become a journalist, by the time I was 13, on hearing U2, I decided I wanted to be a music journalist. In 1991, when the band released Achtung Baby, I won a pre-release copy on Simon Mayo’s show and owing to my ‘huge enthusiasm’, Radio 1 asked if I would review the record live on air the next day, which I did. Rather amusingly, I couldn’t get my head around the change in direction and partly slated it. It later became my favourite U2 album. However, all of this set my plans in stone: I would head to London as soon as possible and get myself a writing job about music.
When I was 17, I spent all the money I had in the world (earned by working three jobs while doing my A Levels) on following the band around the UK and Ireland throughout the summer, sleeping in the back of a car. Bono pulled me up on stage to dance with him at Wembley Stadium, which was knee-shakingly exciting. I once spent £100 (a lot for a 15-year-old) on buying the stolen Achtung demos at a local record fair. Even when the PR sends me a free copy of the album, I still go out and buy it, just for the thrill. I have a special U2 box with everything they have ever released in a locked box under my bed. Yes: that’s the level of my fanaticism. How uncool must this seem to a bunch of music industry types?!
Watching all the kerfuffle about the release of No Line On The Horizon has consequently been particularly interesting for me, given my ‘obsession’. There have been a couple of comments on our message board this week which have stirred my thoughts - complaints are circulating in the media that the BBC has handed Universal untold amounts of free publicity in the run-up to the release and secondly, because the band decided to stream the album upfront on Spotify, some people seem to think the album sales will be affected.
If you click here, you can see the BBC U2 coverage: a Culture Show exclusive, two slots of R1, one on R2 and a R4 Front Row show. There will also be another announcement by tomorrow which involves the band and the BBC, but I’ve been sworn to absolute secrecy and can’t reveal what is. As a U2 fan, I’m loving it. Lauren Laverne certainly did a fantastic – and enviable job – in interviewing them for the Culture Show. I’m even at that stage where I have temporarily forgotten my gripes: Bono parading himself in the limelight with world leaders, the band switching their cash to Dutch tax-free accounts from Dublin, just in time for the economic meltdown which to-date has been felt more painfully in Ireland than other European countries, the Boyzone ‘moment’ in Sweetest Thing, the hairweave, the ‘re-applying for the job of best band in the world’ and so on ad infinitum.
As a working member of the music industry (or should that be ‘serving’ the music industry?), I am slightly miffed by the BBC’s unprecedented coverage of U2’s new release. The BBC’s level of support towards the music industry is good, but by no means great – look at the debacle over TOTP for a start. The BBC is great when it’s delivering coverage of one-off events: Glastonbury, for example, or Summer Sundae on 6Music. The playlisting on R1 and R2, in my opinion, leaves a lot to be desired, but on the other hand, without Steve Lamacq, Colin Murray, Mark Riley and Gideon Coe, in particular, many new bands wouldn’t get the national coverage they deserve. Overall, I would argue that the industry’s relationship with the BBC is hit and miss. However, Universal’s relationship with the BBC is quite obviously alive and kicking. One can't help but wonder if the label group’s dominance in recorded music extends to influence over the Beeb? Maybe I’m being cynical, but if a very healthy relationship exists (and no doubt with the arrival of Lesley Douglas that relationship continues to flourish), then perhaps Universal could use its power for good? Lobbying for the return of some more music TV programming would be a good start.
With regards to the fellows who see technological advances as damaging to album sales, I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest it’s all nonsense. No doubt the album sales figures will tell the full story, but No Line On The Horizon’s pre-release streaming on Spotify will not stop the fans, heading out in hoards, snapping up every available format there is. As my brief re-telling of my teenage U2 obsession reveals, I would have bought anything on offer and my first album by U2 was a copy! What was interesting about the U2/Spotify deal was that Apple seems to have been sidelined: no limited edition iPods and iTunes exclusives this time around. It’s undoubtedly interesting to see how the band uses the latest ‘killer app’ for their own purposes: a freedom which isn’t open to all bands, that’s for sure.
Anyway, turn off your TV and radio now if you’re sick of the sight of Bono’s face. The machine is in mid-flight and there’s some time to go before it lands.