Another Manager Speaks Out On The Death Of Major Labels & The DRM Devil
Nettwerk Management’s Terry McBride is no longer a lone wolf howling against what he sees as the uselessness of major labels and the devil called DRM. The UK’s Peter Jenner (former manager of The Clash and Pink Floyd) has joined the chorus from across the pond:
On the death of Digital Right Management:
"…that was done by Sony BMG – what the fuck was that [rootkit DRM] about? The other was iTunes – and they’ve seen how kids don’t like it. The unitary payment…doesn’t suit how they’re actually using downloads – which is to explore and move around…"
On the major labels:
"No one’s got any sympathy or love for them, because they’ve systematically been shoring up their figures in the short run – squeezing money into Universal to make
up for their catastrophies; Warner Brothers have been coping with huge debt; EMI have been desperately trying to hold their stock price up so somebody would buy them; BMG has been wondering how the fuck they’re going to pay somebody back money for whatever it was, so they don’t go public – and Sony are in a terminal mess." (more @ Register UK)
I had the pleasure of having dinner with Jenner a couple of years ago and beneath the colorful language found a thoughtful manager with a world of experience to share. His solution for this mess? Blanket licensing: if you listen to music you pay a few bucks a month to download whatever you want. It’s modeled somewhat after today’s performance royalty scheme where radio pays a flat fee and the money is divided up based on song plays. Music commentator Bob Lefsetz has been banging this drum in the US for months.
It’s so revolutionary that it could work. We’re living the alternative.
Thanks for the heads-up on this, Bruce. You’re right, Jenner adds weight to the chorus of voices demanding that the music industry reframe its business model. Music futurist Gerd Leonhard spoke about much the same thing here:
http://www.marketingpopculture.com/the_spark/2006/08/podcast_gerd_le.html
“lone wolf”?? everyone already hates the major labels; this has turned into a cliche; granted, they were bad businessmen, but most of the major-label bashing is rationalization for stealing music
Thanks for your comment Bill.
It is true that major label bashing has become a sportin the press and frankly they do a lot to make it easy. But in this instance I felt that I was just reporting what others are saying (McBride and Jenner).
Do you (and other readers) feel we should be more balanced?
but most of the major-label bashing is rationalization for stealing music
Posted by: Bill | Monday, November 06, 2006 at 08:45 AM
meh, most big label apologist are raking it in because they wrok for the machine. The end of time is here pal. repent.