Nick Light of RCA Records
Q: What does the label do in this day and age that everyone can just upload their own music to iTunes?
We provide the marketing expertise you need to break a record. I mean, a record company still does that. Granted, we still finance a lot of the projects, but the marketing professionals we have-- work their ass off to get this done. It’s not as simple as just uploading a record. I mean, everybody can do that, but to create a real marketing plan, work a real video, to work a real tour; you need backing for that.
So you’re saying they don’t just sell?
They don’t just sell, it takes a team to sell a record.
[360 deals] can be very unpopular because people say, Well, why should the record company get anything? You’re looking at a record company that’s investing 10 -15 million dollars to develop an artist. And then they go off and they sell tours and merchandise, they sell tickets, the manager created [the 360] deal, the lawyer created this deal. The record company: we’re entitled to it. And I say that because to break an artist from zero to a substantial artist, to play a good sized theatre, three thousand seats, it’s a significant investment that the label puts up. 5-10-15 million dollars.
