Many thanks to Heather T. for pointing me in the direction of this NYT article today: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/05/business/media/05disk.html
This article announces Clear Channel’s foray into CDs (“Instant Live”) – the burning of CDs of a live show within minutes of its completion, to be sold to fans before they leave the venue (and of course after!)
Some possible scenarios – with Clear Channel getting in on the CD market:
- Artists with label deals (particularly with second tier labels?) may face pressure to participate in this Clear Channel program – since Clear Channel is the big gorilla in radio … But if Clear Channel is burning CDs of an Artist’s live shows – they’re generating competition against their record-label-produced album sales. And why wouldn’t Clear Channel be a teensy bit self motivated – and give higher rotation to the “live” cut of a song on their burned CD vs. the record-label track? Remember – money is involved…In the article its mentioned that for the pilot city (Boston) – Clear Channel has setup an exclusive distribution agreement with Best Buy (for Boston stores first – and then on their website later in the year). Very clever! Not only does Clear Channel have a distribution partner – but they don’t even have to run their own online shopping site! Nice competitive advantage for Best Buy… But does that make the artist / label threat of competing against itself even more real /vivid?Here’s another twist. Say a particular market (SFO) is particularly web savvy… They rate all an artists albums – and turns out the Clear Channel album is rated higher by the buying group than the main album….Some bonus tracks, etc. Bummer for the record label and the artist (who probably makes a bigger cut on true “album” sales than on Clear Channel album sales…)
- If you’re a record label – wouldn’t you be miffed that your artist (to whom you’ve fronted development $$, etc.) is having their material sold basically out from under you? Why have Clear Channel do this for you (except that they are a huge concert monopoly of course) – why not get with the game and do this for yourselves? And isn’t the release of an artists “live” material without artist/label review, its potential to impact sales and inability to control quality (< - the other reason commonly sited. Ha!), the reason labels have banned "private" recordings of shows for years...? If Clear Channel has the right to sell me a copy of a show that I attended - doesn't it become harder for a label/artist to say that you can't just "boot" the show yourself?
- A point of legal debate: If an artist performs a “cover” of a song at a show – and recordings of that concert are then sold – does the artist owe royalties back to the original song owner? Does the artist need to obtain permission to perform the song?
So – would I buy an “instant” boot of a show… Almost assuredly. Would I like that Clear Channel was taking a cut instead of more going to the Artist… Not so much. (And I think the threat of abuse of this vertical integration by Clear Channel is real!) Does it raise some interesting questions about the future of music delivery/distribution and the future of the recording industry – You Bet!
Thanks again Heather!
