... de la business musicale, de l'empire Virgin et Mike Oldfield et de la condition d'artiste...

Faisant un peu de recherche sur les magnifiques rééditions de la 40th Anniversary Series de  King Crimson, que je ne peux que vous recommander chaudement comme exemplaire, ce bout du passionnant journal on-line de Robert Fripp...

10.51    Super Audio Mastering, Monks Withecombe, Chagford, Devon.

Our day began with Simon Heyworth, Mastering Master, indicating the copyright violations on theTubular Bells book… 

… within the new special release package by Mercury UMG; comparable to our own copyright violations with Island UMG & the Keep On Running Island book. Simon was the co-producer ofTubular Bells & supplied several of his photographs, taken at the time, to Mercury UMG for possible inclusion in the book. Simon’s photographs were used without formal permissions being obtained…

… and Mercury UMG are, Simon mentions, in receipt of his solicitor’s letter.

It would be interesting were the business relationship of the time, between Richard Branson & Mike Oldfield, to be made available to informed public debate. It would be interesting were all the managerial relationships of all the main bands of the time to be made public & subject to discussion.  But this is unlikely, often because of gagging orders & other activities that result in this information remaining outside the public arena. However, in his autobiography Mr. Branson explains the necessity of owning copyrights; that is, own the work of other people. And, in that frank account, Mr. Branson gave us a straightforward presentation of one good way to climb to riches: own the work of other people, in addition to owning the fruits of our own labours. 

How the transfers-of-ownership of copyright interests took place, generally & historically, historically is worthy of study & reportage. What! I can imagine innocent DGM visitors expostulating.Managements & record companies unwilling to reveal details of their personal & financial dealings! Surely artists have handed over their work entirely consensually & without any undue influence or disproportionate force being applied to them by their managers & record companies to persuade these artists to submit to the distributive justice being dished out? And happy to do so!

What is not in doubt is that Mr. Branson’s Virgin empire was founded on Tubular Bells; that Mr. Branson made more money at the time from Mike Oldfield than Mike Oldfield, has more money today than Mike Oldfield, and has always had more money than Mike Oldfield – dating from around the release of Tubular Bells.

It is interesting that management & record companies always seem to make more money than the artists whose interests they, nominally, represent. The argument that some artists do well may be true; in which case, look at the distribution of income between artist and management, record company, publisher & agency, and then decide who has done well

Well.

Chaque fois que je lis Robert Fripp, je l'aime un peu plus. Et l'image du Négatron lourdingue qui rendait les autres musiciens de King Crimson fou se complexifie joyeusement.

Ce n’est pas par masochisme que Bill Bruford a laissé tomber fortune et gloire pour suivre Fripp dans son odyssée musicale...