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| From | "Jaimie Vernon" <bullseyecanada@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | The Licensing Dilemma |
| Date | Fri, 25 Jun 2004 14:49:24 -0400 |
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At Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 11:39:37 Michael wrote:
>Maybe I'm a bit thick -- but what do majors gain in making it financially
>and/or logistically difficult to license a few bonus tracks? If those
>tracks are making zero dollars sitting in a vault, isn't ANY money made on
>them (once royalties, I suppose, are factored out) better than nada?
I'm sure Bruce will have some stories to tell about his dealings. From the
majors I've dealt with the stories range from "we have no paperwork for that
early stuff" to "it'll cost us $10,000 just to track down the legals". In
these cases they do not want to be bothered with the man-hours lost in
digging through contracts and paperwork.
In some cases the ownership is actually quite murky. Rhino probably made it
a rather streamlined process now for US labels. But, in Canada, we've only
had autonomous major label presence since the mid-70s. Most Canadian bands
signed to major labels back in the '50s and '60s were processed through New
York or LA head offices and the Canadian affiliated label have no actual
documentation...meaning they've got to beg their US counterparts to try and
find info. Usually, that trail goes cold after about a year of begging. The
cross-border affiliates really have no time for each other....sad, really.
SONY music signed its first domestic act in Canada in 1990 -- that was
54.40. So it shows you how absolutely out of date our system is up here.
To that end, it has been a booming business for me. I have secured licensing
for material through bands themselves who by hook or by crook got everything
back (or never let go of it in the first place). And because Rhino considers
Canada a back-water nation where retail sales are concerned, I'm free to
tap-dance with the majors all I want. So far I've gotten a complete Killer
Dwarfs album out of SONY (who had never previously issued "Stand Tall" in
ANY territory on CD), and some Klaatu tracks from EMI-Canada. I'd love to
pursue more, but I don't have the staff or the resources to pursue it all
right now.
Our compromise is the "When CanCon Rocked" series....showcasing lost,
forgotten and previously unavailable material from 40 years of Canadian
music icons. Volume 1 has just been released and features Segarini's
"Goodbye LA" and The Wackers "Captain Nemo" (both on CD for the first time
ever) among others like The Guess Who, Brave Belt, Luke & The Apostles,
Klaatu, Goddo, Hellfield, Moxy, Honeymoon Suite, Wild T & The Spirit,
Lennex, Killer Dwarfs, Santers, The Kings and more....
Our site's currently being moved and overhauled, but you can find it here:
http://www.allindiemusic.com/Template.asp?ID=346
Jaimie Vernon,
Bullseye
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