4 MusicWeek 18.05.12 NEWS THE GREAT ESCAPE SPECIAL: TWO PAGES OF NEWS FROM BRIGHTON’S ANNUAL FESTIVAL
Placebo’s Molko reveals why he was ‘glad EMI contract ended’
TALENT BY TOM PAKINKIS
P
lacebo’s Brian Molko took to The Great Escape stage last week to discuss
his career, the modern music industry and his relief at having left EMI as it was taken over by Terra Firma. In a Q&A session at the
convention, Molko spoke of his early apprehension when former EMI chief Guy Hands acquired the record company. “As we were coming to the
end of our contract with EMI it was being taken over by Terra Firma and this guy called Guy Hands. This is the guy who, when he bought the Odeon Cinema chain, said, ‘We are not in the cinema business we are in the popcorn business’,” Molko reminded the audience in Brighton. “I was extremely glad that our
contract with EMI was ending at the time that this guy took over because it seemed like a massive harbinger of doom to me. And as you can see EMI is now being sold off to two record companies. So, nice one Guy Hands.”
was a good experience because we made a record without having to answer to anyone.” Molko also talked about the
“Nice one, Guy Hands”: Placebo frontman Brian Molko (right) was quizzed at The Great Escape
culture of the music industry today possibly being detrimental for new artists, comparing it to the time when Placebo were finding their feet. “We were allowed to make
mistakes in the public to find and develop our sound,” he said. “I don’t think that
development time is offered to artists these days with the return that record companies want to make and the amount we have to sign away [with 360 deals] in terms of merchandise and things like that. “The other thing that didn’t
The band’s first album
following their EMI departure, 2009’s Battle For The Sun (left), was self-released. “We decided to go back to the
independent model,” Molko explained, “which is a lot more work but there are fewer people involved and you get more responsibility. I was particularly involved in the licensing side. It
exist was this whole kind of X Factor culture,” Molko later answered to the question of whether acts today were able to push social boundaries, as Placebo had been known to do. “That’s essentially karaoke and is created to benefit the phone companies and the TV companies and Simon Cowell. I expect there to be an uprising from the ground up, which I hope will be fairly colourful.”
VEVO urges UK music industry to take risks with new technology
There’s a lot of money to be made in premium advertising alongside premium content on new, connected platforms - but the UK music industry needs to be more flexible with technology if it is going to reap the benefits. That was the message
presented to Great Escape attendees by VEVO’s Eric Mackay during a panel looking at opportunities with new technology called ‘Goodbye Idiot Box, Hello Smart TV’. “One of the problems that the
music industry’s always had is it expects to open its door in the morning and find a pile of cash there. It’s not the Nineties anymore, that doesn’t happen,” Mackay argued.
Great Escape panel: An interesting mix of execs dealing with new technology discussed the subject: [L-R] Helena Kosinski (Nielsen); Chris Deering (ex-PlayStation); Eric Mackay (VEVO); James Cooper (Sony/ATV); Ben Bleet (Howling Monkey)
“People engage in music in a
completely different way. All these technological advances allow us to try different things
that we’ve not been able to do before - but one of the difficulties that we do have is the cost of licensing.
“There’s a framework in place
that makes it very difficult and very costly to try new things,” he added. “From the rights-holders’
perspective, they do need to take a few risks on new technology otherwise the adoption won’t be there.” Mackay pointed to ‘social
television’ company Zeebox, whose presence in the UK he described as exciting. “But they’re doing things that doesn’t involve the actual music itself because that’s where the real cost is,” he added, however. From the publishing side,
Sony/ATV’s James Cooper offered: “I think rights-holders, artists and everyone needs to evolve really. Technology is springing forward and there are ways to make sure it’s beneficial to everyone, it’s just a matter of finding out how to do that.”
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