EMI BUYS MUTE, SO WHAT?
This past week, the UK-based multimedia corporation EMI announced their
purchase of long time independent record label, Mute. While this might
initially send shivers down spines of faithful Mute fans or indie label
advocates, I feel the need to remind some of us about previous deals
between Matador and Atlantic, or even Matador with the EMI-owned
Capitol records. Back in the early-mid 1990s, Atlantic thought Matador
had something really big with Pavement and Liz Phair, so they decided
to go in on a deal with them to put out all of their records. When the
Atlantic realized that they sank more money into releases which weren't
bringing the bucks into Time Warner, they decided to end the
relationship. Shortly thereafter, Capitol did the same thing. While EMI
would love to have Moby, does anybody with half a brain think EMI will
even want to release albums from Diamanda Galas, Throbbing Gristle or
Non? Sure, the aging post-smack fiends Nick Cave and Depeche Mode do
okay and all, but if EMI paid millions to have Virgin sever their ties
with Mariah Carey, a deal like this won't last. If it does, get ready
for Cabaret Voltaire, Fad Gadget and Can records to go back out of
print. According to reports, EMI will pay £23 million for Mute, plus up
to £19 million of potential performance-related payments, over a period
of four years. Couldn't they just have bought the rights to the music
industry's biggest whore (anything for money Moby) and saved both the
cash and the disgrace which will surely follow 18 months from now?
- Written by: Staff
- Parent Category: Opinions & Editorials
- Category: Deep Thoughts
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