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| January 20, 2007 |
| Tom Waits : Indies aim to grab share of online sales |
Independent record labels behind artists like The White Stripes, Deep Purple and Arctic Monkeys announced a global deal Saturday to pool access to their catalogs, seeking to grab a bigger share of online music sales from the major record companies.
Indies and their trade groups from more than a dozen countries signed up to Merlin, a nonprofit licensing agency that will cut deals on their behalf with download sites under the terms of the agreement unveiled at Midem, a music industry gathering in the French Riviera town of Cannes.
Smaller record companies with just a handful of successful artists fear being left behind in fast-growing digital music markets, where the majors — Universal, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music — enjoy a clear advantage in negotiations with online retailers such as Napster and Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes.
"Merlin may be the most important move we as independents will ever undertake to secure our mutual prosperity in this rapidly changing business landscape," said Brett Gurewitz, owner of U.S.-based Epitaph Records, whose artists include Tom Waits.
Indie labels account for about 80 percent of new music releases in major markets but only 30 percent of total revenues, according to industry data for 2005, partly because the majors spend more on marketing and have — until recently — maintained tight control over distribution channels.
That is already changing with the inexorable rise of online sales, analysts say, as more artists achieve success and celebrity through independent record companies, bypassing the top four. |
posted by viraks @ 8:01:00 AM  |
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