Beggar's Banquet- Sayonara!

[schwenko]

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/ ... quets.html

[korova1]

In one fell swoop three become one. Wow. 4AD was the best of its time. Beggars was a close second. Too Pure was the best label of the 90's for awhile. Choices. Variety. Individualism.

Big business, ain't it a bitch? Soon you will have one record company and one film corp. And one place to buy anything.

ABCBMGSonyWalBrothersOfTheViaParaEMIUniversalFoxMart [:(]

I am sure Ivo is glad to be gone from all of this. That is why he left in the first place awhile back isn't it? Meddling consultant f**ks.

[rewind]

The title of this post is a little misleading. Beggars Banquet is not going away. There was merely some label restructuring. It's unfortunate that redundant staff members will lose their jobs, but that's the music business (well, any business these days.)

In fact Beggars Banquet and Too Pure are still going to remain imprints in some capacity.

And it doesn't affect Beggars US except maybe some new releases may appear on different labels.

(This info comes from a direct source at Beggars.)

[korova1]

Hey, just as long as the shareholders get paid, that is all I care about! Everything is about the bottom line, right?

I don't think there is anyhing misleading about this post, the labels may still exist but the soul is gone.... "Restructuring" is suit talk. After reading that article, I feel Beggars Banquet, 4AD, and Too Pure exist now in name only. These were cutting edge labels sucked dry over the years by the music biz. One or two acts per label are decent these days, the rest are mediocre at best.

Back in their heyday these labels were trendsetters, now thanks to corporate consumption they've joined the ranks of all the other shit labels out there trying to keep the profit margins a little larger than the previous year. Beggars was done years ago, the most exciting things they've done was rerelease some of the classic stuff so people could get remasters of Love and Rockets, Bauhaus, and The Cult. I could care less about the Early Years and Biffy Clyro (or whatever the hell their name is). Although their music may be tolerable, I'd take Gary Numan and Tones on Tail any day over that stuff.

Check out DFA or Mute for successful indies who are not sucking the corporate piehole, rather using them to their benefit and keeping putting the music out for the fans. I betcha those labels have redundant staff members that get to keep their jobs.

[obs]

[i]> Check out DFA or Mute for successful indies who are not sucking the corporate piehole, rather using them to their benefit and keeping putting the music out for the fans. I betcha those labels have redundant staff members that get to keep their jobs.[/i]

You should read the article Alan Wilder wrote (tip from a poster here), regarding Mute. See section "Pop will eat itself?"

[zoon]

Korova1, ¿Have you been reading my mind? I couldn't agree more.

<a href="http://rateyourmusic.com/~zoon"><img border=0 src="http://rateyourmusic.com/images/latest_acq_v/zoon.png" width=150 height=172></a>

[rewind]

>>Everything is about the bottom line, right?<<

It is when you're an independent label struggling with declining album sales.

>>Beggars was done years ago<<

Then this restructuring shouldn't shock you. Unless you prefer they pack it in completely.

>>Check out DFA or Mute for successful indies who are not sucking the corporate piehole, rather using them to their benefit and keeping putting the music out for the fans. I betcha those labels have redundant staff members that get to keep their jobs.<<

In fact, as susidiaries of EMI, DFA and Mute are indeed experiencing "redundancies." EMI is in the process of cutting loose 2000 employees worldwide and every sub-label is affected.

[korova1]

Sorry about that I guess I was being too much of a smart ass for my own good. I know DFA and Mute are part of the mighty EMI empire. I was just trying to prove the point that nothing is truly "indie" anymore.

Let's see: how about Vice Records, nope, owned by Atlantic... how about Sanctuary... yes, Warner owns them right? In the Red? hmmmm... I actually don't know about ITR....

Everything is basically owned by something, usually something very big. Unfortunately those big corporations are owned by something even bigger. So small fruitful ideas are lost, creations are pushed aside for money making ventures, and true art is so far underground sometimes it is very hard to find. Perhaps this is good in your opinion but in my opinion it isn't.

I don't know, but at least in the 80's for awhile there was a time when the industry cared about the left of center and embraced it. The companies seemed to recognize that 1 in 10 of their acts might make them money. Now it seems to be lost in a haze of company speak and suit talk. If all 10 out of 10 don't make money, all of them get cut so the shareholders can get that certain stock split at the end of the year. I get bored.

I would prefer the companies with the independent thought and spirit in the first place to hold true to those mindsets. Beggars, 4ad, and Too Pure originally started out by getting bands nobody wanted on the majors in the first place. I would prefer if indie labels did not sign deals with majors only to end up sinking the ship a few years later. But I am a purist about art, can't help it.