Imagine there's no labels

1/29/2004 10:52:04 AM by Eric Bangeman

Veteran rockers Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno are launching MUDDA (Magnificent Union of Digitally Downloading Artists), an enterprise that will assist musicians in selling music directly to consumers, bypassing the record companies. With the Internet transforming how people buy and listen to songs, musicians need to act now to claim digital music's future both Gabriel and Eno argued at a at the annual Midem music conference.

"Unless artists quickly grasp the possibilities that are available to them, then the rules will get written, and they'll get written without much input from artists," said Eno. "There are some artists who already tried to do everything on their own," said Gabriel, adding that those musicians often found out they didn't like marketing or accounting. " We believe there will be all sorts of models for this."

Having been in and around the music business myself for over 35 years, there is the very distinct possibility that MUDDA or a similar endeavor could change the basic fabric of the music business. Artists have for decades complained that they lose all of their rights to content, style, copyrights and revenues by signing contracts with recording companies. Most musicians sign recording contract because they have little ability or skill in distributing or marketing their works. The Internet allows musicians a shot at levelling the playing field by being able to reach a wide audience and to sell their music without a third or fourth party taking a piece of the pie.

Gabriel is co-founder of a European company, On Demand Distribution, which runs legal downloads sites in 11 European countries. Their company would provide the technology for MUDDA, though Gabriel and Eno are looking for online partners. Europe's sites haven't caught up to the success of the U.S. portals. Apple's iTunes is planning a European launch this year, which is expected to build interest in legal downloading in a market where many people don't realize there's even such a service.

Personally, all of this makes me want to get back in the studio; I learned to hate A&R (Artist and Repertoire) guys while trying to make records years ago. Write-up by Bob "waterdoctor" Norcross