2 MusicWeek 06.09.13 NEWS EDITORIAL
What do the AIM Awards and 1D have in common?
Ah, the AIM Awards. There’s nothing quite like ‘em to bolster the indie spirit, is there? A celebration of the indie music that musters an almost religious devotion to gorgeous gatefold covers wrapped around heavy vinyl, lovingly perused and preserved for years. You don’t find that kind of passion anywhere else. Or do you? If you were to head down to Leicester Square just a
couple of weeks ago, you’d have seen a horde of music fans that would dwarf any Record Store Day gathering a few times over. Except they weren’t the effortlessly cool indie experts you might find queuing outside one of Berwick Street’s famous stores, they were (mostly) screaming teenage girls who couldn’t keep their cool if they tried. They were ‘Directioners’. Gathered for the launch of One Direction’s This Is Us movie
premiere, the exact number of 1D devotees has been lost in the hype but they definitely stormed Leicester Square in their thousands and they definitely managed to shut down the nearest tube station. While our indie aficionado might have turned up his nose at the mindless hysteria, the latest act of 1D dedication represents something the music industry has been missing for a good while.
“Hollywood carts out its shiniest A-listers for every summer blockbuster. Why shouldn’t the latest albums be welcomed with similar fanfare?” I’ve spoken to a lot of indie retailers over the past couple of
years and when I ask about the spike in footfall come Record Store Day, most point out that there was a time when certain bands could whip up a similar storm for every album release. RSD organisers have plans to eventually extend the indie buzz
with smatterings of special releases and exclusive in-stores across the country throughout the year, as well as the big day itself - and I can’t help feeling that the pop world should be looking to make more of its biggest releases as well. Don’t get me wrong, the popularity of the genre’s giants is well
exploited, but if the pop posse will buy One Direction perfume and JLS condoms, surely they’ll spend a bit of extra cash on a limited- edition album while they’re waiting to meet their poster boys. Heck, we might even be able to turn them onto a piece of vinyl if they know young Harry Styles has signed it/touched it/looked at it for even a second. But it’s not just about keeping special physical products alive,
it’s about the celebration of music as a whole. That’s something the music industry has lost for 364 days of the year. Hollywood still knows how to create a sense of occasion by
carting out its shiniest A-listers for every summer blockbuster, even the games industry manages to grab annual headlines with midnight launch events at flagship retailers for the latest Call of Duty edition. Why shouldn’t the biggest albums of the year be welcomed with similar fanfare? The music industry might have to think outside the box to make
the album launch special again, but the battle of Leicester Square shows that there’s just as much passion for music within the pop masses as there is among the independent champions (even if it is partly down to a pretty face) and if you build it they will come - in their droves.
Tom Pakinkis, Deputy Editor Do you have views on this column? Feel free to comment by emailing
tom.pakinkis@
intentmedia.co.uk Vevo ready for Germany
challenge without YouTube PLATFORM LOOKS TO STAND ALONE IN NEW TERRITORY
DIGITAL n BY TOM PAKINKIS
V
evo is up to the challenge of stepping into Germany as a standalone
brand without YouTube as a launch partner in the territory. That’s according to the music
video platform’s head of international Nic Jones (pictured). “Germany is the territory I’ve
had the most conversations with the labels about in terms of their desire to launch there. It’s certainly been my highest priority for the two years that I’ve worked at Vevo,” Jones told Music Week. “It’s got a very strong digital advertising market, advertisers are spending money on the video-on-demand space and it’s got a very strong live music scene.” Vevo announced an agreement
with German collecting society GEMA earlier this week. It’s a feat that log-term partner YouTube has not managed to achieve, with the Google-owned platform locked in dispute with GEMA since 2009 over how
distribute Vevo but that’s only the case for a small amount of repertoire [in Germany].” Germany is the 13th country
that Vevo has launched in internationally. Apart from the US initially, in all of the other countries Vevo started with millions of video views on YouTube. “In Germany, when we launch, we’re effectively starting with zero,” said Jones. Vevo will have routes in
much copyright holders should be paid for streamed songs. The conflict means that
German YouTube users are unable to view tens of thousands of music videos from local and international artists represented by GEMA. “[YouTube is] a very
important partner,” said Jones. “You don’t get 4 billion video views globally without them and certainly we would love them to
Germany through connected devices including Apple TV and Xbox with a number of other distribution deals also being looked at. But Jones hopes that Germany will provide an opportunity for the Vevo brand to gain recognition and popularity directly through its own website and apps. “I stress the importance of the
[YouTube] partnership but we think as a platform Vevo does stand on its own,” he said. “Although we are happy to be distributed by other partners, this gives us the chance to build Vevo as a standalone brand, which is a challenge but an opportunity.”
15 years of Absolute success A
bsolute Marketing and Distribution celebrates its 15th anniversary
this year while keeping one eye on the future by committing further “substantial investment” to the company’s digital delivery capabilities. “We are very much focused
on making sure we continue to offer the same excellent quality service to our clients, delivered by our highly professional and knowledgeable team,” the company’s managing director Henry Semmence (pictured right) told Music Week. “We also have an eye on
future-proofing the business by developing and making further substantial investments to our international digital delivery system and overall range of marketing services,” added
director Simon Wills (pictured left). According to
Wills, the company’s digital delivery system has set Absolute apart from most of its competition by providing direct relationships with major digital retailers and an increased revenue share with clients. “The label services concept we
offer has developed over the past 15 years and moved on from what was originally a third party distribution model,” added Semmence. “Having been the first to offer this service, we are continually evolving and adapting to alternative routes tomarket and providing more services
required by our clients.” Over the years, Absolute has
worked with a wide range of artists including Paul Carrack, Lisa Stansfield and Chicane. “We have a great final quarter
planned with new albums from Matt Cardle, Gabriella Cilmi, Lisa Stansfield and repackages from Blue, Joe Brown, Deep Purple as well as a couple of big projects that will be revealed later in the month,”said Semmence.
www.musicweek.com
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