#lt 2020

[stelloulas]

a vert brief look into louis' 2020

[sh-tmaybeimisslou]

the way the rainbow/stripes run across his forehead make it look like a crown, like yes, picture our boy always like the King™ he is.

[genuineconspiracy]

I was just listening to the 1975 and started wondering what label they were with because the skew alternative, looked it up and they are with dirty hit which is an indie that distributes via UMG, got me wondering if some kind of smaller indie label with a big distributor would work for Louis. Is that the sort of route you expect him to take ?

Yep! A totally independent label simply could not handle him. He’s too big.

I think there’s a chance he’ll go with a bigger label over an indie because he’s a high-value artist and there will be a lot of interest in signing him. The thing that complicates matters is his genre, rock, which a lot of labels just don’t believe in anymore. 

     For instance, if he stays with Sony I think he would go back to Arista because they’re a newly-revived label and he could function as their flagship artist & in the process take a lot of control for himself. But if Arista doesn’t want to be a rock label, they shouldn’t do that. I also think Louis is unlikely to ever work with Sony again.

     Still, a label from Warner or UMG might want him. I just came across an article (https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/universal-relaunches-emi-records-1234636944/) saying UMG relaunched EMI as a UK label this year. They have Bastille, which suggests to me they might be interested in Louis. And they can probably offer him a pretty competitive deal. Also, the new president is a woman, and while that doesn’t mean that she’s inherently free from prejudice or old-school tactics, it is significant in the music industry which is dramatically male-dominated still.

     And as with Arista, a newly-relaunched label means people who are hungry to prove themselves, which is something that Louis could work in his favor. When Louis went with Matt Vines and Mark Gillespie’s new project + Arista  around the same time and seemed quite pleased about it, I sort of got the idea that he was choosing new projects like that for that reason - so he could make full use of his popularity in negotiations. EMI is a slightly different situation because it’s a relaunch of Virgin EMI, but it still means they’re looking to do big things. So I’d keep a close eye on EMI, actually. I’m glad you asked this because I’d never have found this article if you hadn’t!

All that said, I think there’s a decent chance Louis will go with an indie label. Warner in particular has a lot of indie labels that have big rock acts. They’d know what to do with him and Warner is generally better than UMG or Sony for artists’ autonomy (but UMG and Sony have more massive stars). 

     One of my favorite contenders at Warner is Nonesuch records, a multi-genre label that could definitely work with Louis - I just think it’d be very SBB of him to go to Nonsuch, Antigua and then sign to Nonesuch Records. They’ve got The Black Keys which are a successful indie rock act. 

     My other favorite is Dim Mak. It’s a reach but not a baseless one and I’ll show you why: It’s an EDM label but it has true punk rock bona fides - he label started in the same hardcore scene that launched Green Day. With alternative and rock working their way back into the mainstream, there might be a commercial interest in re-establishing their indie rock presence. Oh. And it’s Steve Aoki’s label. 

Here are some things Steve has said about Louis:

about JHO: https://www.billboard.com/video/steve-aoki-talks-louis-tomlinson-collaboration-just-hold-on-at-miami-music-week-2017-7744308 (I’m taking note about his excitement at dropping it out of nowhere)

Interview w/ the S*n about his 2017 album (that was re-worked into Walls)

"We've been talking about doing future music as well and we always try and figure out time between schedules. Plus he's crushing it with Back to You. I love that track."

Gushing about Louis' upcoming solo album, Steve added: "I think he's going to blow people away with his new album. His album's incredible.

"I've heard some songs and everyone is just mind blowing to me. All I can tell you is they make me feel something incredibly human."

2020:

“[louies] are like a major label that wished that they could be that”

     He understands Louis’ (and Louies’) power because he has experienced it first hand. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he was willing to go a bit out of left field to sign Louis. In this scenario, Louis also has the advantage of being so business-savvy that he could take a bigger role than most artists would on the business side and in doing so alleviate some of the stresses on the label that would come with re-establishing an indie rock presence. I definitely believe that if Louis wants to go to an indie and Steve is still this excited about Louis and his potential, we might see him go to Dim Mak.  If this actually happens you’ll never hear from me again as I will be literally dead.