Coolfer Guest Blogs: Can McBride’s Nettwerk Plan Break New Acts?

Last week under the headline "Terry McBride’s New Music Industry." we quoted enthusiastically from a WIRED article about Nettwerk Management’s plans to bring recording industry functions for established clients like The Barenaked Ladies in-house to artist owned labels.  But blogger Glenn from Coolfer rightfully asks, what about developing acts?

"This isn’t a new paradigm, but McBride has done a good job being very vocal about his desire for some kind of change.

There have been a lot of artists who have taken their popularity and put out their records themselves. I think a good recent example is Collective Soul. And Tommy Lee did the same as well. There are enough freelance sales/marketing people and publicity companies for these folks to hire. Get a distributor to manufacture and distribute and then get the product out there.

What I’d like McBride to address is how his vision applies to new artists or artists without much popularity. It’s a lot easier for an established artist to take ownership and assume all the risk (because there’s far less risk than if they were unknown). But what about artists who don’t have a fanbase that was won through the efforts of a major label?

Artist development is what separates the BNL from a group like the Pink Spiders, for example, who would still be on an indie and playing in Nashville if Suretone/Interscope didn’t sign them. In the event they become big huge stars, they can eventualy go the McBride route, take ownership of their recordings, maybe start their own label and assume all the legal, marketing, sales and publicity duties. They can assume all the risk. The McBride Method won’t work for them until they reach a certain level of success. In the meantime, Suretone is assuming all the risk.

It boils down to this: Is it better to own your masters and have less popularity, or give up ownership of your masters and have a better shot at becoming well known? The answer probably depends on the personality of the artist and the level to which he/she wants to or is able to handle his/her own business affairs. "  – Glenn