Live Nation Didn’t Mean All Those Nasty Things It Said About Record Labels
Live Nation, the always-brilliant tour promoter that paid Jay-Z, Madonna, Nickelback, and Shakira tens of millions of dollars to ditch their major record labels, is now hilariously considering outsourcing the distribution of those artists’ albums to … major record labels! According to today’s New York Post, CEO Michael Rapino — tasked with cleaning up the mess left behind by his recently ousted predecessor Michael Cohl (the guy that gave Jay-Z, who is 38, $150 million for his next three records) — is keen to avoid spending money creating a label-like infrastructure through which to release CDs (something we figured they’d have to do since nobody thinks record labels will actually be around long enough to market and distribute Jay-Z’s next three records). So, Universal, Warner, and Sony-BMG could soon be in the awkward position of having to release music by their poached artists. Also, this would make Live Nation’s bottom line partially dependent on the health of its competitors. If you were wondering if the imminent extinction of the entire recording industry could possibly be any more entertaining, the answer, apparently, is yes!
LIVE NATION MAY BE FORCED TO LEAN ON MUSIC LABELS [NYP via Daily Swarm]
Live Nation Didn’t Mean All Those Nasty Things It Said About Record Labels
