James Delahunty
25 Aug 2005 1:01
Warner, one of the world biggest record companies is setting up a label that will drop CDs completely in favour of offering their artists' work as music downloads. The idea of the new "e-label" is to take some of the pressure off the artists' backs. The artists signed to the e-label won't have to worry about the pressures or costs of recording, manufacturing and distributing full albums. Warner chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr sees this as a revolutionary move for the music industry.
"Our most important job is to work with artists and help them hone their craft," he said. One of the biggest reasons he gave for the new label was that too many young artists were being dropped from labels if their first album failed to sell enough copies. "While the old system allowed an artist time to develop and grow, today's business is such that an initial commercial failure for most artists means they no longer get a second chance." he said.
Instead of having their artists release full albums of music every couple of years, they will release "clusters" which will comprise of about three or more songs from their artists every few months. Albums and singles are usually only available for download from legal music stores when they are released on CD. Now Warner is experimenting with another approach to releasing and selling new music.
Another good point for this label is that artists retain ownership of the masters and copyrights while signed to the label. "We see our mission as not to control the means by which artists' voices are heard, but to amplify those voices," Mr Bronfman said. "And the more those voices are amplified and distributed through more and more channels, the more we empower consumers to make emotional connections to the artists and music they most want to hear."
Source:
BBC News