Stuck between rocks
Mariah Carey's exit made the biggest splash recently because EMI paid her $28 million to walk away from her contract. Even though the singer has notched more No. 1 singles than any other female artist, sales of the soundtrack from her first movie, Glitter, have been considered a failure by the music business, and EMI clearly wanted out.
"Not only was she not selling records, it didn't look like she was going to in the future," said Dr. Don Cusic, a professor at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., whose expertise includes the music industry. "It was a bad deal. Ms. Carey isn't the only well-known artist who has parted ways with a label recently. Others include Anita Baker, Sinead O'Connor, Rod Stewart and David Bowie. This shows something about the industry. Companies have been overpaying, The economy has been bad for the music industry for a couple of years."
It's not only the recording industry that's slipping. Concert promoters and venue managers also are feeling a slump. The top 100 concert tours sold 34.4 million tickets in 2001, down about 7 percent from 37.1 million the year before, according to an analysis by Pollstar magazine. "Make no mistake: The industry does have cycles, and there's not a flood of people touring right now," said Derek Rauchenberger, general manager for the NextStage theater in Grand Prairie, which opens Feb. 9.
Larry Fontana, general manager of Dallas' Smirnoff Music Centre and Austin's Southpark Meadows, agreed. "This was probably the slowest fourth quarter on record for concerts. It was slow even before 9-11, and 9-11 put a halt on touring," he said, referring to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "There's not that much talent traffic right now."
"Radio is so in debt, it's playing a lot of commercials, and it's driving people away," said Dr. Cusic. "Record companies depended on it for exposure." While there are lots of nagging problems, however, the main reason for the drop in sales is an increase in competition for the entertainment dollar, Dr. Cusic said. "Mostly, it's people not buying records," he said. Consumers are checking out computer games and Internet sites that weren't available before. (The Dallas Morning News)
|
