Bredonborough.
The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and this is & has been our weather since Saturday. Wonderful.
But I still can't get online by dial-up.
A craftsman has arrived to paint our courtyard gates. Most of his work is in local churches. He supervised building work on this building when Mr. Merry bought it, c. 1975. Formerly, before Mr. Merry, this was the Willow Tea Rooms. I love that people came here, and into this study, to eat cakes and drink tea. My Wife, as a very little person, came into this building with her family. Just behind me are the tiny children's shoes she may have worn.
Otherwise practising, tidying, catching up, getting in place.
This DGM week we have two main pieces of work to address: replacing Laura, who is leaving to move into journalism. I am sorry to see Laura go, but my comments to her over the weekend, while she was considering her future plans, were these:
Life is too short. You will never be this young again. Follow your passion.
The other item to consider is re-licensing the "traditional" KC/EG catalogue. This covers all the albums from 1969 & ITCOTCK to 1984 and TOAPP. EMI bought Virgin who bought the EG Records catalogue (KC, Roxy Music & Eno). Alternatively put, EG sold the EG record catalogue to Virgin and EMI acquired it from them.
The license with Virgin/EMI expires at the end of this year and, under the terms of the out-of-court settlement that followed 6.5 years of Endless Grief, we are formally obliged to consult with them for a possible re-licensing at the end of the period. David & I have been in direct negotiation with EMI for almost a year, discussions somewhat prejudiced by the accompanying matter of non-payment of very large sums of KC royalties. The royalty matter was resolved earlier this year, but only after I called EMI to inform that I saw no alternative course of action to litigation. (The same applied to BMG Music).
EMI have made a proposition that has some benefits but a major downside. The prime benefit is a Europe-wide distribution, collection & royalty payment. There is currently no independent distributor for all of Europe, although there are two or three good independents that cover parts of the territory. This is an astonishing & major gap in the European industry, a vacuum waiting for someone to fill. The problem for DGM has been supervising 10 or 11 different distributors, each of which requires separate royalty accounting to artists. North America is one territory. So is Poland (one of the strong countries for KC). Each requires substantially the same amount of work. Then Benelux, Iberia, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Scandinavia -- Distribution in Russia is irrelevant, because it's all bootlegs. (Similarly, one forgets South America. The only possibly-reliable statements are on exports from the US. South American royalty statements are primarily useful for the small room).
The first reliable pan-European independent distributor has a great future.
So, the upside of EMI is that it takes care of all of Europe. The catch is that EMI are only interested in Europe if they also have North America; EMI in the US are not good for KC; and we are in any case very happy with our American independent distributor.
The downside of the EMI offer is that they claim full download rights for the same royalty payment as if the downloads were hard copy CDs. And a digital stream is not. Catalogues of The Beatles, and significant parts of the Rolling Stones' & Pink Floyd, are not being made available for download, regardless of how that is being presented publicly. In other words, catalogue artists have reservations about downloads.
En passant I note that the formal EMI royalty rate of 16% as offered translates, in real terms, to 10.2% once all the deductions are made. For example, a packaging deduction of 25% and royalties paid on 90% of sales. Time, surely, that declared royalty rates are transparent and are what they claim to be, not merely smoke & mirrors, an accepted industry-standard deceit?
So, these are matters David & I are addressing now that the Endless DVD has ended - that is, at our end of the ending. Backtracking --
Saturday 13th. September: practising, tidying, catching up.
Sunday 14th. September: at home with The Little Luvvie!
"The concern of the musician is music.
The concern of the professional musician is business."
