So we identified the problem, the record business had the experience because of the people who worked there, and slowly they started to dwindle. The record business was losing ‘record people’ and they were being replaced by the accountants and lawyers. The old guard were the innovators and the risk takers, they were the people who could spot talent and know what to do with it. They were charismatic and dynamic, exciting people at an exciting time and in an exciting place……along came the lawyers and we lost the excitement, it became like any other business.
Too right the business has changed, and succeeded in what? Well it streamlined the operation, reduced the overhead, dropped a load of bands and satisfied the shareholders. They got a return on their investment, everyone else suffered, and most of all the public got bored . The record companies put themselves in a position where they couldn’t sign anyone who didn’t give them a quick return and in doing that they missed out on the very lifeblood of the industry, the one thing that gave them a job in the first place and that kept the industry afloat for so long…..back catalogue.
The record companies pissed the public off, they got bored with constant re issues, endless different mixes designed with the sole intention of forcing a record in to the charts…not through it’s popularity but by getting the same people to buy it several times so they could get the extra track or the new mix. The record companies underestimated the public thinking that if you liked Iron Maiden or whoever then you would merrily buy every version you chose to release. I was suprised the bands didn’t think more of their fans and put a stop to it. It made the charts a farce. The charts were supposed to reflect the most popular records and at times it had singles in there that some people had several copies of.
After CD’s had come along and saved the companies in the eighties now they were at the point of no return…they’d run out of ideas to squeeze every last cent out of people and they politely abstained, they had other things to spend their disposable income on that just weren’t available to them in the past.
Filed under: About Tony Michaelides, Journey Through The Past , record companies, record company marketing
