Artifact Page #5

I would probably try to dissuade them

or I would at least try to figure out

what they thought

they were gonna get out of it.

Increasingly, artist development is a term

that's not even use at record companies,

you know.

They use the word artist development

but it's offensive to a certain point

cause they don't really do that.

They look at the profiles,

in the old days, it was MySpace,

the profile numbers now it's Facebook,

YouTube, Twitter.

Can you sell 10 / 20 000 on your own

without a label

and if so,

then they start paying attention,

you know, kind of thing, but yeah,

but it's not artist development.

That's already signing an artist

that's developed itself.

I think the main reason people

really want labels now

it's legitimacy,

especially when you are a new band that,

that what you're doing really kind of matters

and is part of something,

and to get the press,

to get people believing in you.

So obviously, bands

when they get big on their own

then they sign with a label for that:

Legitimacy.

One thing we've definitely learn

is that artists need help.

Metric is a great example.

They were the first artists to break top 5

in pop radio with no label.

But if you talked to Matt Drouin

who manages Metric, he will tell you:

"We had more people working on that record

than if we were at a label.

We just hired them ourselves so, no,

we didn't have a label but

we kind of built our own staff around it."

When I got off the label,

I pretty much knew

I didn't want to sign with another one.

And I knew nothing could

beat doing direct business

with my fans, it wasn't...

There was no deal in the world

that was that good.

I cannot tell you how many eMails

I've got from fans saying:

"We want to directly support you.

How can we do it so

your label doesn't get the money?"

Give people awesome music

and then make it very easy for them

to help you.

And they will.

There are lots of artists,

like I said

who were finding themselves

with this choice

and it is not to say

that the labels can't win the argument

as to why an artist should use them

and partner with them. Em...

But it is to say

that there is a great number

of tools available

to independent artists

to do it on their own

and they are not necessarily considerably

inferior to the label choice.

What's the BPM?

GO!

Next chorus...

Thank you very much

have a nice f***ing day!

I was 21 years old and I would do anything

in order to be able

to play music for a living.

But I had made the choice to give up.

I realized I had missed my boat.

I had made plans to sell all of my gear,

I didn't want to have any like,

memory of the music life.

The next day,

after like, making this choice,

is when I got the call to see if

I was interested in auditioning

for Thirty Seconds to Mars.

I'm like completely broke. I have no money,

I have nothing at all. I have a guitar

and some crappy gear.

And I begged my parents,

I was like, this is the one, I can feel it.

I know, I'm gonna get this.

No matter what,

nothing gonna stop me from getting this,

I will die if I don't get this.

We're auditioning like hundreds of people.

He walks in and he says:

"I just want to let you guys know

you don't have to look any further..."

I was so cocky and so stupid.

It could have gone so badly,

the way I was acting.

I was like,

alright, well, see what you got.

They took a chance on me.

I wasn't the coolest looking kid.

I certainly wasn't

the best guitarist out there

but there was obviously something

that they saw in me.

Re-signing with EMI, gets rid of

2 Million Dollars of all debt

and gets rid of

the Thirty Million Dollars lawsuit

but that f***ing pissing me

this won (I know)

and it's not even the fight

to fight to beat somebody.

It's the fight to... to...

for what's right, what's fair!

You sign a deal in a way to compromise

but you're doing it so that

you could get in on the inside,

work with somebody

and change the fundamentals

that way rather than a confrontation.

Yeah, changing from the inside out.

Exactly.

Or do you confront it from the outside?

We would never have this opportunity again

to fight over the 7-year clause

and to go and like, change a part of...

Absolutely.

Not just the music business

but you know, the way that our

contracts are handled.

So there is this kind of... You know...

... Moral crusade.

Yeah, there's a bit of a moral crusade.

If they give us every single f***ing thing

that we wanted

they would still be winning

and they know it!

That's the thing they're f***in' know it!

And by the way, what the F***!

What if they give a sh*t,

they gonna go home and get their salary

at the end of the night.

They're getting everything that they want.

Complete domination over the artist.

Just be careful you know, addict...

Addicted is a strong word, to be the person

that is always gonna be in battle.

Maybe this is not the right time

to fight this

through this mechanism.

Just bide your time.

It might well be a different way

to fight it.

But you don't have to sacrifice as much.

The Company can always outlast the act.

We learn this lesson primarily

with Georges Michael.

He killed his career suing Sony, okay.

So, the act has an incentive to settle

because acts are not like engineers at IBM

who might work for 40 years.

Prince was pissed off at Warner Brothers

and stopped recording that's when

he changed his name to that symbol.

It was a protest against Warner Brothers.

So, was that the right thing?

You know, at the kind of his height,

to go sit on the sidelines

and then go make music

how many every years later

when people don't want to fight

about it anymore?

I don't know. Who won? Who lost?

I just remember the whole time thinking:

It's not a good idea

to go into a pissing contest

with the record company,

who has, who holds all the cards.

It's like a war of attrition.

It's like,

whoever wears the other person down first

is going to win.

Usually the company

they want to teach the act a lesson,

but they also need the revenue.

So, assuming the act is willing to sit

on the sidelines for a year or two,

they can ultimately make a better deal.

Hopefully they've not lost momentum

in the process.

Do you think as a corporation EMI

ever lied to you?

Erm... Do I think

EMI ever lied to us?

I am...

I'm seeking not to get sued

by 30 Million bucks,

So, I can't tell you or not

how they are inside.

I mean that's the only condition of

our release that I got to be a good boy.

So, give me some council here, my friend.

What am I doing?

Jesus Christ!

... It's getting worse.

I think I just caught your cold!

Okay, what's your advice here

as an expert in the music industry?

To me... To me... I think that...

I'm taking into account

what you guys are saying,

I think EMI is the safe bet.

Because, like I told you before,

I think you're doing one album for them

and you'll be done with them.

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