Mariah last of the big spenders?
There are no longer any sure things in pop, as EMI Records confirmed last week, when it paid Mariah Carey $US28million ($53 million) to terminate her contract after low sales of her first album for the label. Don't worry about Carey. Poor support for her CD Glitter might have cost her one of the largest ever recording deals - $US90 million for five albums - but she will find a new deal easily enough. It is rumoured that she has been approached by Arista, although her representatives insist she has yet to talk to any label. It's the music business that is doing the soul-searching - about its practice of paying superstar acts enormous advances.
"Some companies may be doing it just to show they have the money," says Polydor spokesman Stuart Bell. "Someone sets a precedent and everyone else has to follow. They know they'll be front-page news and attract other stars to the label, but they're screwing themselves because they can't really afford it."
"The days of signing huge deals for eight albums are gone," agrees Gary Farrow of Sony. "For artists to warrant that kind of money, they'd have to go platinum in every territory." Sony's own roster includes the underperforming Michael Jackson. His contractual details are confidential, but his sister Janet made headlines a decade ago when she signed to Virgin for a then-record $US50million. In 1995, she negotiated a further $US80million. "At the time, Richard Branson [then chairman of Virgin] said it was like buying an original Rembrandt. I don't know what he was expecting," says John McKie, ex-editor of music magazine Q.
It's not that Jackson flopped; she has had numerous top 10 singles, and Virgin executives say she makes money for the company. But she hasn't had a huge hit in some time. McKie suggests she was taken on, along with the past-their-prime Rolling Stones, simply to give the company prestige. More pertinently, it impresses shareholders, who appreciate the value of a blue-chip roster.
No-one could accuse the companies of being over-generous with wannabes, however. The development deals of the past, where new acts were allowed to prove themselves over two or three albums, are almost non-existent. If a band don't score a substantial hit first time out, chances are they're out. Nor are acts any longer kept on for sentimental reasons, as the venerable - and labelless - David Bowie and Rod Stewart know.
But it's not just the labels that are unhappy with present practices. Some acts are also wangling deals that involve less money up front, but more control of how their records are marketed. George Michael has just struck an unusual agreement with Polydor that could end up the blueprint for future big-name contracts. Rather than commit to a multi-album deal, the goateed crooner will record one single, with the option for an album if he thinks Polydor has promoted the single successfully. (smh.com.au)
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