Radiohead’s (former) label EMI announced massive cuts following another nasty year. Still clinging to the theory that music downloading, not the tremendous heap of crap they fling in our direction, is responsible, they take great pains to note that “sales are up in the U.S., where the music industry has aggressively cracked down on illicit online trading of music and more consumers use legal download services”. Hmmm.
What this means, though, in addition to the 1,500 jobs cut (many in A&R), EMI plans to trim its roster by one-fifth. Meaning that artists that don’t sell well right out the gate will be dropped, without being given time to develop. Which means a band like Radiohead, or an artist like Norah Jones (two of EMI’s biggest acts), would likely be dropped after lackluster sales of their first albums. Which means that the next big seller won’t come to bear. Which means sales will go down. Which means they’ll have to cut more artists.
It seems like a bit of a downward spiral, but shhhhh…don’t tell ’em! Let’s see how this one ends…
Appreciate a catch-22 when you see it (and read the original article) here.
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