The Future is in Our Hands Now
I just read an interesting article on www.hitsdailydouble.com about how Nickelback signed a 360 Deal with Live Nation as opposed to signing a deal with a traditional record company.
This is yet another highly successful recording artist who opted out of the major label system in favor of Live Nation.
A 360 Deal is a deal where a record company, or other third party, has a stake in all of an artist’s revenue streams. In this case, Live Nation will have a share in Nickelback’s publishing, touring, merchandise, CD sales, sponsorships, etc.
Traditionally, record companies:
• Financed the making of the albums because it was so expensive to make albums
• Controlled all of the distribution outlets because they had all of the relationships with retail stores
• They oversaw the marketing and promotion of the albums
This model worked in the past and has nothing to do with the realities of the current marketplace.
It no longer costs a million dollars to make a great album, people don’t buy CD’s at retail stores anymore and there are many other outlets/options for marketing and promotion.
This means that record companies can’t provide value in the ways in which they traditionally added value and until they figure out how to offer more value than a company like Live Nation, they will be seeing more and more of their A-level artists opting out of the major label system.
So as artists, we have to be aware of these changes and understand what it means for us and our careers.
The future is in our hands now.
It is up to us to find ways to independently build our brands to the point where other parties have an incentive to come in and help take us to the next level…and there is a pretty good chance that a major record label will not be a part of the equation.
This is very empowering…
Tags: 360 Deal, Hits Daily Double, Live Nation, Nickelback