Korn Sells Anothers Piece Of Their Soul
We’ve tried to be open minded but Korn and managers The Firm have gone too far. Creative thinking and dealing making usually excites us. After all ,the music industry is in the middle of a total paradigm shift. But selling off of pieces of rockers KORN is making our skin crawl.
It almost made sense a few months ago when Korn sold 30% of themselves to EMI for $30 million. Isn’t the traditional artist label relationship supposed to be (in our dreams) a long term partnership? So if Korn could guarantee a long-term commitment from the label – if the label even exists in a few years – for some big cash…well maybe more power to them. But now comes the news that Live Nation (aka Clear Channel Concerts who should have a line item on their annual report for "cost of changing our name so many times") has bought another 6% of Korn for $3 million dollars. This fee doesn’t just guarantee Live Nation concert promotion rights, but actually involves the concert giant in profits from publishing, recording, and other areas that the concert promoter knows nothing about.
"This is about shifting power back to artists by finding strategic partners who are the best in their 
respective businesses," Jeff Kwatinetz of Korn management company The Firm told the New York Times. "This deal allows (Live Nation) to focus not just on selling concert tickets, but on fully investing in the Korn brand."
Yeah, right. Is the band going to hold a board meeting to decide what songs to write? Monetizing art is important to keep artists afloat. But selling stakes in future output can not help but effect the content and purity of the art itself. How can that be a good thing? This deal reduces Korn’s fans to mere consumers.
What’s next?
- 3.7% sold to Budweiser for mentions in 3.7% of the artists songs? ("No bring "I love Bud up in the mix. We paid big money for this!")
- An investment from The American Chiropractors Association to encourage stage diving?
- How about selling futures in the band member’s children?
