I have written before on these very pages about the changes, not only to the way we obtain and listen to music, but the fact that the musicians themselves are clawing back their control. I predict that in less than ten years' time there will be no major record labels. To me that is a good thing.For want of a better example, McFly recently took a huge risk and bought themselves out of their record contract and set up their own label. The first step was to give away their new CD via The Mail on Sunday, following in Prince's dainty, stack heeled footsteps. Although it's not entirely fair making people buy The Mail on Sunday. The second stage for McFly is to do a stadium tour which will no doubt make them a fortune not only on tickets but on merchandising, and then to re-release the album 'properly' with 4 new tracks and a DVD. As fans will have had a teaser they will rush out at playtime and buy the new album.
Hamfatter found an even better way to get publicity and funding by going on Dragon's Den and making a pitch. They walked away with £75,000 and full creative control. They will also make £3.50 on each album sold, rather than the scraps from the table a big record company would throw them.
All a band needs now is a Myspace following, to get people listening. Then they make the money on live shows.
Remember when records had the above logo printed on the sleeve?
It was wrong, home taping was the Myspace of its time. It's how you got your friends into the new band you discovered. I remember taping John Peel's show and making copies to distribute. My biggest success was when Alan Freeman played the whole set from Ozzy Osbourne's 1986 Donnington show on his Radio One rock show. With the help of a tape and a homemade cover (which I still have) I sold it around school.
