Meet the new boss

Same as the old boss

Pete Townshend

Record labels are only as good as the acts they record and release. No executive ever sold a record at Best Buy, never mind a download at iTunes. In this crazy fucked-up world we live in somehow the execs think THEY are the artists.

Artistry is not something that can be quantified. Nor is it something that can be learned. Artists are born. And are developed outside the educational system. Just ask Bruce Springsteen. As for "American Idol", that’s about stars, not artists.

One thing we’re sure of, those in power now, those into the perks and the fame more than the music, will not rule in the future. Oh, the artists of yore NEEDED the label exec to get his music heard. Those days are through. I’d say if you’re looking to get into business with one of these pricks, who cares not a whit if YOUR album sells just as long as SOME album on his label does, then you’re a laughable specimen.

If only major labels nurtured artists. Gave them money and told them to create. That they believed in them. That they would support anything they did.

God, those days ended in the seventies. Now the exec wants to tell you how to look, what to record and what your album package should look like. And, if you COMPLAIN, like an asshole parent, they say THEY’RE FOOTING THE BILL!

Tony Brummel signed some successful acts. As a result, he could get major label heads on the phone. Because they wanted his market share, so THEIR market share could improve. They didn’t give a shit what kind of music he was releasing, how long it would ultimately last, they just wanted a momentary bump in their numbers. To get them through until the next year, when they could attempt to pull another rabbit out of their hat.

As for the acts Mr. Brummel purveys… Does anybody believe he’s got Led Zeppelin or the Eagles, never mind the Beatles or the Stones? Does anybody believe Hawthorne Heights will be selling gold in catalog ten years from now?

Mr. Brummel made it on hard work. But now, like an exec who starts a company but can’t manage it when it becomes successful, his street-style is revealing him to be a boor who behaves in a way that results in all no longer taking him seriously.

Tony. So you paid for some endcaps. You’re in bed with the "Hits" guys. Tell me again what’s so revolutionary about your operation?

And now you want Steve Jobs to bend over backward and give you something nobody else gets because you ASKED for it? Especially after you declared that the iTunes Music Store was the death of the industry, that it would decimate the album?

Come on.

Business is a negotiation. Of two parties who each have something the other desires.

Apple desires Victory’s music. It’s willing to pay for it. But nothing beyond what it pays anybody else. No premium is required because there’s no extreme benefit to Apple!

Everybody knows this except Tony.

But his acts are not getting iTunes revenue as he plays the blowhard week after week.

To be respected, an executive must FIRST AND FOREMOST be a friend to the artist. Talk to acts on Victory. Ask about Tony putting samplers of other acts on his label in with their product, about insisting his other acts be on tour with them or otherwise he won’t pay them. This isn’t friendliness, this is MORRIS LEVY TIME!

An artist-friendly label is a midwife to its acts’ music. That’s its sole goal. To help ease the creation of great music and get it to as many people as possible. Tony, isn’t it time for you to admit fault? Isn’t it time for you to put forth a manifesto detailing what YOU will or won’t do? Isn’t it time to put the focus on VICTORY instead of blaming everybody else?

Great music sells itself. Put your shit on iTunes. Tell everybody you made a mistake. Say Jobs is good for your business. And then SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT IT!

Furthermore, Victory isn’t the number one independent label, not even close.