(TV) Re: Whatever happened to artist development?

[Michael Olcsvary <olcsvary@erols.com>]

You know, as much as I dislike most of his post -"Hot Rats" work, Frank Zappa
had it nailed when he said there were two things that had truly messed up life
and both of them had three letters.  The second was MBA, since having those
three magic letters on your resume gives you automatic validity in the eyes of
the suits ( who don't know shit from shinola anyway ) and confers the ability
to do what you want even though you don't know what the hell you're doing.
That's why Van Morrison was cut from Warner's - someone crunched some numbers
and decided keeping him on the label was more expensive than cutting him loose
and selling the back catalogue.  Prestige, artistic merit?  They don't count
unless they add up to some kind of profit.  On the plus side, that's why you
also have record labels that shell out mega-millions for, oh, Aerosmith, then
wonder why no one's buying their first release on the brand new label.  Imagine
what would have happened if this frame of mind had been operating when the
Byrds were recording - they would have been canned after "8 Miles High" got
banned.  And imagine some bean counter hearing the tapes of the next Verlaine
effort and saying:  "Gosh, Tom, we like it a lot, but I don't hear a single.
Now we could bring in Britney Spears on this track and overdub some hip-hop
beats..."

Oh, the first three letter thing Frank mentioned was LSD.  He said it turned
hippies into yuppies and therefore was the most dangerous substance on the
planet.

And while I'm at it, RIP, Curtis Mayfield.

Michael

Joe Hartley wrote:

> "MICHAEL CARLUCCI" <subterraneannyc@mindspring.com> wrote:
> > Whatever happened to artist development? ... the record companies have
> > nothing left to sell.
>
> I was absolutely flabbergasted a few years ago when Warner Bros. cut
> Van Morrison from thier roster.  I mean, VAN FUCKING MORRISON.  He only
> made one of the most beautiful records of all time (and released it on
> WB), and has made these bastards a potload of dough over the years.  But
> then it was "Sorry, babe, we gotta cut expenses so we can keep up the
> payments on these corporate BMWs."
>
> One dry patch, and you're cut loose.  Of course, WB is still making money
> off of Van since they still put copies of Van's back catalog out there.
> I thoght it poetic justice when Van came back with a string of commercially
> successful releases after that, but such subtleties are lost on the
> leeches who don't do squat but seem to always have more money, bigger
> houses, faster cars and more blow than the artists.
>
> "There are lots of ways to make money in the music industry.  Playing
> music is not one of them." - Graham Parker
>
> ObTV: Got the turntable patched in the other night, so now I can burn
> myself a CD of "Words From The Front."  I don't think I ever played that
> album when I got it!
>
> ======================================================================
>        Joe Hartley - UNIX/network Consultant - jh@brainiac.com
>      12 Emma G Lane, Narragansett, RI  02882 - vox 401.782.9042
> Without deviation from the norm, "progress" is not possible. - FZappa
>
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