Been pondering this bands as start-ups concept too but I have a huge problem with it. Been curious about the reactions to the NYT piece,
especially as I was the guy who released Metric's previous record 'Live
it Out' in the UK. They're an interesting example which kinda breaks
this bands as a start-up concept into disperate red herring puzzle
pieces.
My main issue is that start-ups and hyped new bands,
both work on the premise of hope and potential, whereas any tried and
tested company or band, has a quantifiable ROI (return on investment).
This is problematic because the media is not that interested in bands
or websites/tech which aren't brand new (as Metric weren't when we
released their record, despite outselling the Gossip week on week until
the NME cool list, etc) or massively successful. It's always a
headscratcher when a band changes their name (like the Kaiser Chiefs
did) or a website relaunches as something totally different, that it
leads to press, which leads to other media coverage.
economics (and perhaps ego-nomics) is all sorts of illogical when
things are run on and driven by promise (see also: the banking crisis).
All sense of scale is totally lost when people invest or talk about
future projects, which is obviously what makes the world go around but
at the cost of everything great that falls in the huge canyon between
the stools of the new and the established. It's incredibly easy to miss
a window of opportunity or jump the shark too early (often leading the
charge for a lesser copyist), whilst for some reason never being
allowed a chance to shine. I'm always fascinated at the different ways
things worked when hits were slowburners or how books become paperback
bestsellers from all the hardback praise (which I guess is kinda how
imports or poor performing initial re-release get a massive second
wind).
Without wanting to doom-monger: Metric's continued
success isn't down to biz models and is in part down to consolidating
all the great things they've done in the past (especially Emily Haines'
solo album which opened various different doors) and the fact they've
made a friggin' great record, during a window of time when there aren't
a great deal of great records and less and less brand new major label
bands. Yet, the fact Fantasies (much-like Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)
was overlooked in the UK in favour of the likes of electro-fronted
ladypop from La Roux and Little Boots (who was once in a band named
after a Metric track) or long-deadstars like U2 and Oasis speaks
volumes about the state of the media and its problems which are more at
the stagnant heart of the poor sales of records, much more than p2p.
Metric
may have done better with this record but it's far from the best case
scenario, they're still playing similar sized shows (billed exactly the
same place on the Reading bill) but slowly starting to get a few
mainstream breaks which might help them crossover in the states.
