U2. Me2, them too and you too.

It’s incredible to see the media go in to free fall when the U2 show comes to town. As an exercise in how to promote your show no one does it better and no one will ever do it better. It’s close to an invasion, no matter what may be going on in the world they literally command centre stage. U2 is the number one news story. In a day when records, sorry CD sales are at an all time low it’s the only way you can hope to trigger off what meagre sales are out there. Let them know you’re here. And when it comes to record sales even U2 are finding it hard going, the public has not fallen in love with their latest album/ CD. However,  wild horses wouldn’t keep those same people away from the live show.

The band are taking plenty of flack for the carbon emissions from taking this gargantuan beast on the road and you can understand why. Personally though, I believe  The Edge when he says they will offset that carbon footprint in some way. They’d probably already thought about it long before all the knives came out.  Unfortunately at around the same time he bought 156 acres on a cliff in Malibu overlooking the Pacific Ocean to build an eco friendly  home. Well five in fact, his own 10,000 square foot palace and another four to flog. Nice work if you can get it! He does want to make it his main homestead though and having seen the place I think I would too! Needless to say the activists came out in force stating that to build whatever he was building they would need to flatten a part of the cliff to build an access road.

No matter what anyone says about U2, whether it’s the new album, the carbon non friendly size of the tour or anything else for that matter the one thing you can’t ignore is the experience almost every single person who attends the show takes home. For them it’s worth every penny. U2 bring them a happiness that a lot of other bands don’t and for them it’s the best night of their lives. Paul McGuinness  has been quoted as saying they don’t break even until the back end of the US tour so you cannot argue about their desire to give people an experience second to none. The Edge on the edge. Of a cliff.

I don’t think the tour will have a significant effect on their record sales either and I’m sure they know that better than anyone. Their motivation will be their desire (no pun intended) to give something back to the people who have stuck with them forever, it’ll be trying to let them experience something unique, something completely different…….to anything. Add to that the corporate, footballer world flocking to the U2 show as the place to be seen and we have ‘the event’. It’s kinda funny too, what about those who haven’t seen a live show before? Where do they go from here, anything is going to seem sub standard after Claw Wars!

And where do U2 go from here, the return of The Claw? I don’t think so , it won’t be anywhere other than rest for a while and I think we can all allow them that indulgence! But what next, where can you go. Personally I think it’ll be stripped right down and four guys will take their songs to the masses. U2 have reached such a level now that being the ‘hottest ticket’ they could do anything. They’ve earned it. They haven’t earned it because of a gigantic claw and a production of epidemic proportion, they earned it from 30 plus years on the road. They’ve earned it from playing every tiny club that wanted to book them to every fan who wanted to see them. They’ve earned it from signing every autograph for every one of those fans who believed in them enough to give them a chance to do this. And through it all they stuck at it. They posed for every picture with every fan no matter how exhausted they were after giving their all in a performance, and for many years to under a hundred people and not a hundred thousand. They stepped out front to meet and greet the fans for as long as it was safe to do so. They paid their dues, they have earned it.

For me U2, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Bruce or Led Zeppelin don’t have to prove anything to me or anyone else. They earned it, damn right they earned it. It’s called a work ethic and it’s called graft. Blood, sweat and tears. It’s called taking chances and making mistakes and it’s called entertainment. It isn’t about any one tour, it’s about understanding why you came in to this business and giving people something they have earned. The opportunity to take their hard earned cash and spend it how they want to. And if that is on two hours of a thrill of a lifetime who are we to judge?  When entertainers get this big let’s not lose site of the fact that they are still meant to entertain. It’s what they do and it’s what they should always do.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, Risk, Uncategorized , David Bowie, led zeppelin, touring, U2, u2 360 tour

Superbowl Superboss

Tampa is awash with Superbowlites, they’re everywhere and all to see the men with big shoulders running around shouting until eventually throwing an odd shaped ball out of the ground. Everyone jumps up, play stops……. and an entire new team runs on. I don’t understand American football and I don’t think I ever will.

Nevertheless it’s popular. The adds run at $3 million for a 30 second commercial and sadly they were all booked pre recession……$100,000 per second! Rhianna played the other night, The Eagles last night, there’s Fleetwood Mac, Puff Daddy, whoops P.Diddy who turned up in St Pete early this morning for a party. Snoop is snooping around, it’s all going on. Meanwhile I’m checking out Fox Soccer Channel and I think Wigan on the box will do just fine, no problem…..leave ‘em all to paaaaaaaaarty.

…….Oh and then of course there’s The Boss, the man who knows about as much about the game as me, Bruce Springsteen. He’s turned it down a million times but Boss times are hard and like he boldly admits, he has a new album out. There’s no fee but they’ll cover expenses, nice, him and Patti get a hotel room… but then again the audience for his 12 minute half time show is a billion! No need for a sweat drenched 3 hour show. Boss move by Boss man. Nice work if you can get it.

Bruce did a press conference on Thursday and no suprise, it was all over everywhere………it was the first he’d done since 1987 and the media lapped it up. Brucey boy seemed in good spirits and I did like his honesty about not being a football fan and wanting to shamlessly plug his new album. One thing both he and Miami Steve said got me thinking. They said they came out of an era when the music was brilliant and the artists set a very high standard……..and they felt it their job to maintain those standards, they wanted to be great. It’s a wonderful philosophy, admire you’re peers but at the same time try and emulate them.

Springsteen has worked relentlesly for several decades to be where he is. He shunned CBS’s (now Sony) hype campaign and the posters that claimed ‘I have seen the future of rock n roll and it is Bruce Springsteen’ He hated it, he demanded they take them all down. As was the case with his heroes and when he was growing up, he wanted to be judged on merit and not some overhyped record company campaign. He was right, he was more than a commodity, he had a vision and he wasn’t prepared to compromise.The artists that have survived are the ones who had a say in their career, they too had a vision and weren’t prepared to stand back and let the record company turn them in to what they thought they should be, and create something that would make their job easier….make them marketable. They had belief and they had guts and if was going to take time then so be it. It worked then but they won’t let it work now, they all watched as everything came tumbling down. They pushed the self destruct button while blaming everyone apart from themselves.They knew it all.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, Opportunity, record companies , Bruce Springsteen, CBS, Superbowl

Get it together

I’ve been moving furniture around and I’m knackered. I’ve lost half the stuff I put in places to make it easier to find them but I suppose it’s bound to get easier when I eventually do find them……. Nevertheless good things happen and Facebook once more re introduces figures from the past and more glorious memories come flooding back. An old TV pal from many moons ago, Sally located me and we have been exchanging e-mails furiously. As she has now spent more time on my blog than I have she’ll be vital in helping me drag out a few more gems, especially from the great times spent on music television shows.

Sally worked at Granada for a good few years and was there 30 years ago when I managed to get a bunch of Irish kiddies a nice little break. I have to admire them for booking U2 way ahead of anyone else around the time ‘I will follow’ came out. Back then U2 were only getting interviews on specialist radio shows so it was very bold on Granada’s part to stick their necks out and book them, especially on a kid’s show. Not only did they get on TV but the show was broadcast nationally. Looking back at that footage nowadays is incredible and yet so few web sites even list it. We know it exists…we were there. U2 looked so young but then again so did I !!! They were always so grateful for every opportunity, very humble and lapped up the chance to meet the media.They were the perfect band to get on radio or television…you got them on and they did the rest. They made a plugger’s job easy. I’ll get blasted here from Sal if I’m wrong but the show was ‘Get it together’ presented by one of the world’s most famous owls, ‘Ollie Beak.’ The show’s producer was Muriel Young, a lovely lady who sadly passed away a few years ago but someone who I can still picture vividly. She came out of an era in television, the 60’s where some of the most amazing bands passed through their doors. I missed that one professionally (yes, too young!) but still had my radio and TV there to give me the most amazing education.

Television back in the 70’s , especially music television which was where I was hovering was littered with the best bunch of people you could ever hope to meet. I made some great friends there. If you loved music and worked in television you were allowed to work on music programmes……..whoever thought up that recipe deserves a medal, music people for music televsion. Then again the same could be said of record pluggers, we loved music so all day you were exchanging stories, talking about great new records that had come out, booking bands on to shows, doing the work and having great fun at the same time. TV researchers trusted you and no matter how much I wanted to get my bands on to TV I prided myself on never trying to force stuff on them that clearly wasn’t right for the show. There were other places to book other bands so why even try to get an act on a show that wouldn’t be right for their audience anyway, what’s the point?

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, Opportunity, PR, record companies , get it together, Granada TV, music television

A new dawn

So today it all begins. Much as I am delighted to see Obama take the helm it’s just as exciting to see George Bush going. I’ll never understand how he got re elected though….one mistake you can condone but to ask him to come back and do it all over again is a little odd. Could you ever expect to see two so opposite people? Obama is a brilliant speaker, articulate, intelligent, passionate and above all believable…. and George Bush isn’t. Watching the build up to the inauguration is amazing, people are starting to believe again, something that has sadly gone in a world clouded in doom and gloom. We need today and we need it bad.

January has been a fairly miserable start to the year with more job losses and more still to come and today is going to energize us all. I was pleased to see that all the music industry people and comments on Facebook are all pro Obama so let’s hope that optimism shines through our industry. The music industry could do well to practice what the new President preaches, all of us working together, rallying round to help make it happen. In an industry as fragmented as the music industry has become we need direction, we need something to inspire and motivate. Record companies used to have belief in their artists, the belief that they had what it took and with that came the hope to succeed. Politics or music it’s all the same, you have to believe in your ability to make it happen.

With hope will come opportunities and we’ll need to be ready for those opportunities, we’ll need to be prepared. I think that’s all anyone can ever hope for, to be given the opportunity and to be just given that chance. Too many have had too many disappointments for too long now. There is no consolation no matter how bad things get when you look over your shoulder and see people losing their homes, their jobs and most all their dignity. All people who were once proud have taken the slings and arrows and deserve more. So much has so little to do with them yet they suffer the injustices. Seems wrong that George Bush could drag America through so much of a mess and walk back to the safe haven that is his world, no cash flow problems, business as usual, oblivious to what we alll have to deal with. And he didn’t even get made redundant, he retired!

It’s a mad mad world where those that create the mess, whether it be politics, banking, insurance etc walk away unscathed, even with bonuses!…… and yet others lose so much.

Here’s to the new boss……….not the same as the old boss. Not even close.

Filed under: Opportunity, View from the room , Obama, George Bush

What now for the music biz

The record industry needed to find something that would save them from themselves. They needed to find the solution before the problem,and now the problem is global and has spiraled out of control…..everyone with their own crosses to bear. With the economy taking such an unprecedented pounding you wouldn’t lay money on the music business having anywhere near an OK year. Mutiny, mass exoduses of bands wanting to find their own solutions to the problem will inspire little confidence in an industry they once looked to as their mentors.

Music industry people like Chris Blackwell and Ahmet Ertegun, Herb Alpert and a smattering of others from the past together with the Michael Lippmans and Paul McGuinesses of the present still retain their mantles and their success is deserving. In their own domain they have successfully managed every part of the process and gained the respect of their artists….but where do the others turn to for guidance. These people have their own houses to keep in order but nowadays what do they see around them, where do they turn find the like minded people of old that they rely on to work with? Where is the support, the back up they once had. Labels believed in their artists and would do everything they could to show that support, they used to inspire one another.

Where are the people who once were so enthusiastic about the music they couldn’t wait to spread the word. They needed to make money but it was the music that drove them. When I first started in the music business in 1974 my immediate boss Ray Cooper was first and foremost a fan, it was why he wanted to work in the music business….he’s still a fan today.Back then we’d spend as much time discussing music on other labels as we did on the stuff we were selling, the same at Island later on…….there didn’t seem to be anyone there who wasn’t there for the right reasons.

Once this was an industry abundant with adventurous, creative people, now it’s an industry scared of risk, frightened by mistake, confused, tried and tested……… and found guilty.

We can hope for change but this isn’t the change President Elect Obama had in mind. This is one thing he or no one else could manage to change. We will look at what happens now in the music industry and if last year was a year of radical change then this year is going to see even bigger change……..and for those that can survive it, good luck.

Filed under: Managing Creativity, record companies , Chris Blackwell, Herb Alpert, Michael Lippman, music industry, Paul McGuinness

Take that …..or leave it

I wouldn’t deprive anyone who worked hard any success but I always maintained Robbie Williams was the luckiest pop star alive. I think his management team have done a marvelous job under the circumstances as I would imagine that at times he’d be a hard act to handle…. he’s prone to doing what he wants, when he wants.

I worked with Take That around ‘Back for Good’ and was there at the press conference when they announced they were calling it a day.They had continued for about a year after Robbie left and there was a lot of love for them but they were feeling they had taken it as far as they could and retired gracefully. When Robbie left Take That I don’t think he acted the same and then went on to have some extra digs at Gary. All the while Gary retained a dignified silence and didn’t enter into any war of words choosing to concentrate on his solo career.

Mark Owen also released his own album around the same time as Gary, brave in itself and was always very supportive of Robbie. When people were looking for a quote or more likely looking to see if Mark would have a dig at his old mate he was genuinely supportive of him and would mention how much he missed him. As the two youngest in the band they shared a lot in those formative years. Not of the band ever showed any animosity towards him even when Robbie was making a fool of himself, tagging on with Oasis at Glastonbury and doing anything just to get noticed.

When he first released his own solo album it bombed and it wasn’t until ‘Angels’ that anyone gave a toss and then for some reason he was propelled in to the stratosphere…..and all from just that one song. Everyone around him worked brilliantly to convince the public of his immense talent when it was just this one very good song. England has always championed the ‘cheeky chappy’ yet here in the US they couldn’t see it, they didn’t know what all the fuss was about. I find it quite amazing to see how he has become the most successful UK male artist ever! Just think of the names he’s been compared with…George Michael, Elton John???? I can’t say I agree……not even close.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, Managing Creativity , Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Take That

Look who’s Back for Good

So Robbie Williams wants to return to Take That…..now there’s a suprise, I wonder why? Well Robbie, nothing lasts forever and I think you’ve had the best of your days….so slipping back now in to a band you walked out on is a little too convenient, especially when their success and comeback has nothing to do with you. The boys crafted their own comeback with a killer single ‘Patience’ and deserve all the praise and the awards that have come their way.

Take That are very smart, they listen and they learn. In the early days they were masterminded by an excellent manager in Nigel Martin Smith….. he was a mini Brian Epstein, he built the band from nothing, had the right ideas and worked very well with the record company, RCA. He worked the band hard with plenty of public appearances where they would perfect their dance routines and build a fan base and he got the record company to support all of that.

Has it really been any different…getting out there and finding out who your fans are? It worked very well, they got their break and they had earned it. All the time the band were listening to others. They were learning and showing a great deal of interest in their own careers……..yet they understood they were young, had no experience and needed guidance. Now they are able to use that knowledge and experience and are getting it right the first time of coming back !

I’m very impressed and delighted for them, they are on the verge of selling a million copies of their new album. It would seem like their career is doing better than his and that’s why he wants in. Take That could end up with the best comeback of all time and could do that quite easily without ‘The Robster.’ That would be very hard for him and his ego to handle, he really thought they’d struggle without him.

He hated Gary being singled out as the only one capable of a sustaining a solo career. When Take That split up Gary’s label BMG mounted a huge promotional campaign for him, one that was aimed at showing the world how successful they could be with the band’s main songwriter. They wanted to turn Gary Barlow in to the new George Michael and I don’t that was fair to Gary…..it’s something that’s typical of record companies, they fail to realize the public is quite happy with one George Michael. In the past did they ever try to give us the new Frank Sinatra, the next Freddie Mercury, Elton John? No, they’d be out there searching for the next big thing and not replicating the last.

Don’t get me started on that…..well not until next time at least.

Filed under: Business Lessons, Managing Creativity, record companies , BMG, Gary Barlow, George Michael, Nigel Martin Smith, Robbie Williams, Take That

Island daze

I miss Island Records but I don’t miss record companies, Island was in a class of it’s own, its a tough one to describe…..you really did have to be there. Now I’m standing from the rooftops and shouting, ‘I was there, tough luck if you weren’t!’

My friend Neil met up with Chris Blackwell, Island Record’s founder last week and it got us talking about those times yet again. There aren’t too many moments in anyone’s career that trigger off the most vivid of memories….. but the merest mention of Island life and we’re away! I was equally as pleased to hear that the two of them had done just the same!…….check out Neil’s blog for more about CB and Island at Neilstorey.blogspot.com

You meet a lot of people in the music industry and you meet a multitude of stars. For me I not only met them but I worked with U2, Bowie, The Police, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Bob Marley…..the list goes on, but when I talk about Island my only regret is that I never met Chris Blackwell. It was probably circumstance more than anything, he commuted between Jamaica, London and New York and I didn’t cover any radio stations there…… I don’t think he was avoiding me! That being said he played a huge role in my career, firstly as a fan of Island music and then professionally.

I can talk about growing up at Island and learning my trade as a promotions guy because I was left alone to do it, left to make my own mistakes. It was much the same script I gave anyone who came to work for me once I set up my own promotion company……go do it, if you fuck up there isn’t anything I can’t pull you out of. Make your own mistakes, I made plenty but they’re exclusive to me! If they made mistakes but identified them and recovered from them they proved themselves to be the right choice. Looking at the people who came and went I think my choices were good…..they went on to become radio presenters, form their own promotion companies, management companies…. and my intern went on to manage Coldplay! I think I emulated Chris Blackwell’s A and R policy, go with your gut instinct and believe in the people you work with. He was the Lion King, he lived in me!

In the early days Chris Blackwell was the A and R department. He found someone, he talked to them, told them how great he thought they were and how he thought he could help their career and boom…they’re signed. Prime example Bob Marley, it worked for both parties. Marley would never have been recognized and gain the popularity he did without Blackwell’s guidance and likewise CB would not have been able to attract new acts to his label if he hadn’t done such a remarkable job with Marley.

He needed to stand proud and look at what had been achieved and build his label from there.That’s the secret of a good record man. I won’t harp on about artist development, scroll down there is plenty of that but what I will say is how vital it is that you have a creative mind and an understanding for what you sign. It isn’t just the music it’s ‘can I work with these people, do we both have the same vision?’ Though Chris didn’t physically sign U2 and it’s been well documented by the man himself, it took just one meeting with them and manager Paul McGuinness to convince him of what his colleagues at Island were saying…..this lot are special. Rob Partridge and Neil Storey had worked long and hard in the early days until Nick ‘the captain’ Stewart stuck the piece of paper under them that said..come join this fabulous place that employs me.

Still to this day I think it was the perfect marriage. No label would have persisted in supporting U2 the way Chris Blackwell and Island did back then and certainly no label would have dared not to interfere. They owed the label so much in the first few years that most people would have stepped in and said ‘Oi, stop pissing my money away, this is how it’s going to be.’ Island knew how to grow with their artists…… through relationships based on mutual respect.

Filed under: Business Lessons, Journey Through The Past, Managing Creativity, Risk, record companies , Add new tag, Bob Marley, Chris Blackwell, Island Records, Neil Storey, Nick Stewart, Rob Partridge, U2

Let’s change the goalposts

OK let’s do normal for a minute….well maybe not then. I often used to think wouldn’t it be great if there was a transfer market in the music industry much the same as in soccer. When you get Real Madrid bidding 75 million for Ronaldo, what could the boy Bono go for? Can you imagine if Radiohead took a dip in sales and they put Thom Yorke on the transfer list and bid 30 million for Bono. It could be a straight payment, part swap where Thom goes to U2. Maybe they even part ex drummers. The popularity of a band might dip if they knew the singer had been transfer listed, it would keep everyone on their toes though.

Just think if Pink Floyd were still touring they could have two subs. If Dave Gilmour lost his voice and it went ‘Comfortably numb’ then they could bring on another singer with a number 12 shirt on. It would be a strategical managerial decision, Dave wasn’t cutting it and his manager would lift a card at the side of the stage and at the end of the number, pull him off. The audience would be cool,they’d understand……it’s tactics

You could make it even better if the band didn’t announce their squad before the gig so you’d have no idea who the sub(special guest) was. It could even change the result, there may be extra time….no penalties though, that may be a little harder.

Look at the publicity, you’d have the photo of the manager and his new artist leaning over the contract and the headline ‘Bono goes to Kiss for 30 million’ If you had someone like Robert Plant who was a great singer but getting on a bit he could maybe go to The Jonas Brothers on a free for the season. What would happen if Sheryl Crow blew it in rehearsals and she was dropped on the night, and her backing band went on and did just instrumentals. If a singer was drunk and off key he could get sent off and again the band would have to play instrumentals. You would have to be strict in the event of a sending off, naturally you wouldn’t e allowed to bring a substitute singer on. It would be the equivalent of playing out for a scoreless draw away from home.

Of course you could get a scenario like Nicolas Anelka though when he was swapping clubs every month,that would attract the greedy agents. Every time an artist went to a band they’d get their 20% so it’s in their own interests for them to move around. It could get messy though because you could have a situation where a four piece have four different managers. It makes it interesting though, don’t you think?

I’m off for a little lie down now……….

.

Filed under: Managing Creativity, View from the room , Bono, pink Floyd, transfer deals, band managers

Managing an act today

I don’t think you ever find a good band without good management, certainly never in my experience. I never worked with Peter Grant, who was Led Zeppelin’s manager but he was the one who set the perimeters. He was totally devoted to his band and a brilliant manager. Since then Paul McGuinness with U2, Tony Smith with Genesis and Michael Lippman with Matchbox twenty take some beating. I worked with all of them and they were all great to work with. Apart from great visionaries and having great ideas for their artists they are all good listeners, always wanting to know what was happening with their artists and always asking what they could do from their end to help. Those types of relationships, the plugger with the manager are crucial to the success of an act. They know how to get the very best out of their artists and if you don’t have that you’re wasting your time. Management is not a job to play at, it can be a thankless task. If the group fail then they think the manager is crap and if they succeed then it’s all down to them….they were always brilliant anyway!!! A good manager totally understands that though, they’re used to it.

Nowadays, where you need the artist to do so much for themselves ,it’s the role of manager that has changed. At the top end you need a powerful, influential manager who can act as the buffer between the artist and the record company. Where the record company might want to exert their influence because they have money invested, the manager can ensure protecting their act. Record companies will want to pressurize them to deliver records to suit their projected quarterly targets as a successful act is their lifeline there. No good manager would ever allow that and where they have good management, the record company would be less inclined to ask.

At the other end where the act is unknown it is difficult to secure good management. Some of the more reputable ones are ‘full up’ with no room to take on new acts. Sad but true, it’s the smaller acts that often require the greater work. An unknown manager without a reputation is going to find it hard to get to record companies…apart from them signing fewer and fewer acts, they rarely listen to unsolicited material. What that effectively means is if they don’t know you they won’t listen to what you have. In defense of the record companies, they simply don’t have the resource any longer to wade through endless CD’s of mostly crap artists. With regard to the better managers, it is very hard to spend all the time you need to on an act that is earning you nothing, and at the expense of the one that is…they could get very pissed off and that could jeopardize their managerial position with them. Whichever way you turn you can’t win, but at least the good are wise to that.

Filed under: Business Lessons, Managing Creativity, record companies , Genesis, Matchbox twenty, Michael Lippman, Paul McGuinness, Tony Smith, U2