WARNER TO LAUNCH REVOLUTIONARY NEW RECORD LABEL

WARNER is setting up a revolutionary new record label.

The music giants are getting ready to launch the ‘e-label’ which will do away with CDs in favour of releasing a small numbers of tracks at a time – to be known as “clusters” – only on the internet.

New bands and artists will be signed to the label without the pressures or costs of recording, manufacturing and distributing full albums.

Warner chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr said: “Our most important job is to work with artists and help them hone their craft.”

Bronfman said that too many young artists were being dropped when their first albums did not sell enough copies.

He explained: “While the old system allowed an artist time to develop and grow, today's business is such that an initial commercial failure for most artists means they no longer get a second chance."

Bronfman added that artists are less likely to be dropped by the e-label before they reach their full potential and Warner will be able to track which artists become fan favourites.

He said: “"At this new label, an artist can develop in a supportive, lower-risk environment. An artist is not required to have enough material for an album, only just enough to excite our ears.”

"Rather than releasing an album every couple of years, every few months the label will release 'clusters' - three or more songs - by an artist. And, finally, and perhaps most revolutionary, artists retain ownership of their masters and copyrights while signed to this label,” Bronfman added.

According to BBC News, Bronfman said that Warner were “excited by the power of digital distribution now available to every potential artist. We see our mission as not to control the means by which artists' voices are heard, but to amplify those voices”.

He continued: “And the more those voices are amplified and distributed through more and more channels, the more we empower consumers to make emotional connections to the artists and music they most want to hear."

The chairman said that the e-label’s success would be measured by “our ability to identify and develop powerful creative voices”.

"As a music company, we also understand that our ultimate success lies not in preventing people from getting what they want but in providing it to them in new and exciting ways."

No, but I applaud them for at least coming up with a business plan that attempts to embrace technology instead of sticking their head in the sand.

you might be in the minority.

I don't want to print my own cover art, I don't want to have to supply my own discs and jewel cases, and I don't want to have to rely on a CD burner whose output deteriorates exponentially faster than a factory-burnt disc.

This digital cluster thing sucks. I don't care about their intentions, I care about what is available for me to buy.

I don't want to print my own cover art, I don't want to have to supply my own discs and jewel cases, and I don't want to have to rely on a CD burner whose output deteriorates exponentially faster than a factory-burnt disc.

Who's going to sign with a major to put out a 'digital cluster'. I could do that from home.

If you sign to a record label you want a product at the end of it.

If you sign to a record label you want a product at the end of it.

the definition of "product" is changing. our kids quite possibly will know nothing but digitial streams on demand from centralized servers. vinyl? cds? BAH!