The Counting Crows have ended their eighteen-year label relationship with Geffen Records (now part of Universal Music Group), lead singer Adam Duritz says on the band’s website.
Duritz says the band will go it alone, saying “the internet opens a world of limitless possibility, where the only boundaries are the boundaries of your own imagination.” Apparently UMG didn’t approve of breaking down some of those boundaries. Duritz added “Unfortunately, the directions we want to go and the opportunities we want to pursue are often things that our label is simply not allowed to do.”
The band joins Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and others who’s explored releasing music outside of the normal label/distributor world, and more are sure to follow. Labels are pushing all of their artists to sign 360 music deals that give them a cut of every revenue source, as CD sales become increasingly shaky. Without those deals, the labels are unlikely to be able to make much money from even their top artists after 2011 or so.
This trend of big money artists leaving labels to try things on their own is bad news for a music industry that faces falling CD sales, a terrible concert event economy in the short run and a general drying up of venture-backed startups willing to pay exorbitant settlement costs for copyright infringement cases. That’s good news for the rest of us in my opinion – we’re likely to see an explosion of music related innovation in the coming years.
Well, just a matter of time until the first Music Venture Capitalists will enter the stage.
Counting Crows would be awesome on a website like mybandstock.com . Would you buy stock in CC?
If a band like the CC turned to their fan base and said, hey guys, we need 50k to make our next record, there would be 5000 people that would pay $10 to see that happen.
Essentially that’s what the site does. It allows bands to raise money from their fan base to record records!
online ad networks = the new record labels
I really freakin’ love Counting Crows, by far my favorite band, their songs basically made the relationship with my girlfriend the soundtrack of our life. I feel like I owe them a lot and am so happy to see that they’ve joined this on going initiative to move away from labels and spread the love in this, my also favorite medium. Would definitely buy their music online, without a doubt.
And on a personal note to Counting Crows just in case they read the comments, Please COME TO ISRAEL! you’ve got a HUGE following here! HUGE!
Kinda boring, aren’t they?
I thought so too. But, I accidentally saw them in concert a few years ago… opening for somebody (fresh at the time)… and they were one of the best live performances I’ve even seen. Really engaging, really interactive, really talented. (blew the headliner out of the water).
I also hope that the loss of big label branding helps to tone-down some of the outrageousness of rockstars… some of the bling… and help to filter-out some of the mal-talent that found success only through big label marketing.
wow… I’m starting to sound like an old man.
I am old. Saw them with a young friend Great show! And a great move-not only on their part, but, for the industry as a whole…
@Martin Sorry to say I don’t see ad networks as the new record label. Great idea but not realistic as far as ROI goes.
I can’t say I have the answers but it will have to be a multi pronged revenue source ad networks may play a part in that. The 360 deals are the right direction but still need to evolve into something that is worthwhile to all parties involved instead of just a grab at money by the labels.
On the plus side I like the idea of more and more artists leaving the labels. This will help show the need for music business innovation.
Let’s be honest, the reason they can’t get a record deal is because they are utter limp wristed shite.
I agree- shouldn’t this story really just read “Black Crowes dropped by their label, no one rushes to re-sign them”.
Such a pity this article is about COUNTING Crows, and not the Black Crows… Your comment could’ve been at least somewhat clever. Yet, it wasn’t.
With our technology, who the hell needs a label?
Why do we need freakin’ rock stars anyway? I thought that bullshit died with YouTube?
Really, anyone who signs a 360 deal today is selling their soul to the devil lock, stock and barrel and should be shunned, laughed at and spit on.
http://www.gogoyoko.com
pretty interesting….
The Counting Crows should head over and join RouteNote.com for any future releases. Im sure we can cut a great revenue share percentage for them!
With the power of the internet and more sites coming into the music space looking for the right solution, bands just simply dont need record labels any more to push to the masses.
However, with well known bands they are still going to sell if they have a label or they dont, but for small and upcoming bands… its all about marketing !! Which not everyone can or knows how to do.
It’s OKBig label will get their money anyways. It’s called – SoundExchange. A company, belonging to the big labels and a result of federal law, which is to collect royalties on behalf of ALL musicians, irregardless if they are independent and openly against the record industry, from EVERYONE who plays music.
Oh, and they do not have to payout the money they collect, they JUST have to make an effort to pay them out!! That includes, hmmm.., maybe sending an email to a dead or incorrect email address, perhaps.
“irregardless” … really?
“really?”!!! – http://en.wikip...i/SoundExchange go to “Authority”
People will become the ambassadors of good music, as they always have been. Music will become more pure as well. Micro blogging and integrations of twitter style functionality in FaceBook, as well as last FM and agregator fundi’s will epitomise this.
Still media will always play a good part, but in a story telling format, not always with a profit format. Communication instead of Promotion. Bands are able to engage with these initiatives.
You will see online specialists be employed on result based fees taking over the role perhaps, but yet it is only a part of the business side of music. Record companies can/should – thus – take a leading role in this and strenghten their relationship with the artists – if they do that is their survival. If not – it becomes more complicated.
With the online magazine CapeTownMagazine.com we started an online jukebox where you can listen online to South African music and we are now expanding to give musicians a chance to be found by new audiences as well. Both bands and record companies see a strength in it if there is result based communication and it is measurable. It’s seen a great start in its simple starting format but will see over 50 CDs / Bands by the end of the year.
A great showcase for 2010 as well for SA music to take centre stage – not with a profit angle for us – but from an engaging entrepreneurial level!
When did TC turn into nothing but comments by folks pimping their own tedious business’? Oh wait, it’s always been that way.
Can music groups do their own distribution and promotion? Look at the Twitter stream at http://m.tEarn.com/ for Counting Crow, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and classic groups that are no longer promoted.
Self promotion does challenge the labels and consumers benefit from more choice and quality.
When did this become pimp my website; to all commentors no one gives a damn about your site so dont post it.
Q&PD, I do find good stuff from some “pimps” When your open to comment on TC your open to share. Just might be one of the benefits of this internet thing…
I saw the Counting Crows in the mid/late 90’s … Merriweather Post Pavillion in Maryland… It was Adam’s birthday and one of his bandmates led us (the whole crowd) in singing happy-b-day to him… it was fun. The Wallflowers opened the show.
I am looking forward to finding out what “things that our label is simply not allowed to do” turn out to be from this entertaining and engaging group.
“This trend of big money artists leaving labels to try things on their own is bad news for a music industry that faces falling CD sales…”
I disagree. It’s bad for the RECORDING INDUSTRY. The music industry is doing just fine.
Counting Crows are still together? When was their last album? I thought they died in 1995.
Last Album was in 2008…they just co-headlined with Maroon5 last summer.
They can distribute their music through social networks and twitter. Labels are primary for marketing and appearance planning. Twitter should be a good source for marketing album launches. Most successful artists have their own studios so they don’t need to pay for studio time and production costs and CD’s and digital music cost nothing to create and distribute. They should twitter during concerts, like that NBA basketball player – where it the TC post on that? This is twitter news central!
There is no dispute that the industry is changing, and not as quickly as many of us would like. However, the simple fact is that the main functions of a label are marketing and promotion. Simply twittering does not get your video or song in rotation, nor does it get you TV bookings or licensing deals. If you argue that those media companies will begin to look to alternate sources for discovery, I will remind you that they are also experiencing downsizing and don’t have the staff to weed through the hundreds of thousands of bands. The internet is amazing and helps bands do things they have never been able to do before but it also makes for a very crowded pond, and much smaller fish. This is a business. Successes in music do not fall out of the sky. They are the result of years of hard work by all involved.
The Counting Crows will have success because they have an already established base, but what about tomorrows stars? The ones you’ve yet to hear about……. Even the most viral video on youtube has been seen by less than 10% of the population of the US…….
Good point but 10% of the US is a hell of a lot of people – I think its an exciting and interesting move. I can’t wait to see what comes of it!
Someone figured out how to do it 100 years when sheet music was the music business. I am sure with all the new technologies we will figure it out how to bypass the labels entirely…
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Awesome. I got to see them play at the Intel party in Las Vegas this year at CES. It was the sweetest concert I’ve been to that was put on by Intel.
The 360 deal is the most anti-artist thing to happen in awhile. I’m not a fan of this band at all, but I say congrats to them for making the right move.
If you guys get a chance, definitely check out Tallulah Rendall. She set up her own label, got some investors and is about to release a book/album this coming June. In my opinion, she is a pretty decent example of what the idea of a ‘label’ will be in the future.
http://www.tallulahrendall.com
http://www.mysp...tallulahrendall