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wilco vs. the music industry


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i'm teaching a class on the music industry (Music as a Business) and I'm always looking for tidbits/anecdotes to spice of the lectures. i've given examples from Wilco a few times:

 

- streaming their music online including albums before they're released.

- the YHF fiasco

- the fact that the label told them they need another single for 'summer teeth' and jeff came up with 'i can't stand it'

- the VW commercials

 

i've also shown them some clips from IATTBYH.

 

i'd be curious to know if anyone has anything to add to this list. these are just a few things off the top of my head and i'm sure there many things i've forgotten.

 

one thing i was particularly interested in (actually what got me to start the thread): i remember a few years ago reading an article where they mentioned how much money tweedy and co. make off turing (vs. how much they actually make through the sale of album). anyone know where that is?

 

anyway, i thought it would be interesting to start a post on wilco and their relationship with the industry...

 

nathan

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i remember a few years ago reading an article where they mentioned how much money tweedy and co. make off turing (vs. how much they actually make through the sale of album). anyone know where that is?

I think the majority of musicians/artists make their income from touring and merchandise sales, not from album sales.

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Yes, the 'In Rainbows' was a big topic for discussion. I'm aware that, for many artists, touring, merchandising, licensing etc... can be a much better revenue stream. Does anyone have any specifics. It doesn't have to be Wilco. They're just a) my favorite band and B) a band that seems to have some interesting run-ins with the biz.

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one interesting tidbit is that they posted on their website the exact dollar amount they were able to donate to charity from the 9/12 chicago millenium park show. you could look at how many that venue seats, ticket prices and deduce a thing or two from the numbers (#tickets sold x (ticket price - ticket master fees) - donated amount=band/venue over head. you could even deduce the amount of $ ticketmaster makes off of ticket sales per venue.

 

and to note that they do charity shows like the example above. :)

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This might be a little off topic, but a few years back Wilco was sued for using the sample on "Poor Places" of the woman who says "yankee hotel foxtrot" from a series of discs called the Conet Project. In the end their record company settled out of court. But the reason they fought it was because basically the recordings were of these myterious numbers stations, which no one really has the rights to. In the end it was settled out of court. It's kind of complicated to explain, but here's a link:

 

http://www.joegratz.net/archives/2004/06/2...record-company/

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It might also be interesting (and chilling) to cite examples where bands have been crushed by thieving management and record company chicanery:

 

Badfinger

Big Star

Dwight Twilley Band

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It might also be interesting (and chilling) to cite examples where bands have been crushed by thieving management and record company chicanery:

 

Badfinger

Big Star

Dwight Twilley Band

 

 

didn't aerosmith get completely screwed when it came to the song "Dream On"???

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Jeff pushes the vinyl pretty hard. "There's a lot of things that we still have faith in. I still have a lot of faith that there's very few people who are savvy enough to actually produce a good sounding copy of the record. I also believe that in general there is no good sounding copy of the record other than the vinyl. I think that vinyl versions of the last few records are far superior." (pitchfork interview)

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