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The Whoring of Korn

by John Davidson
15 January 2006

I’m guessing that not many Big Takeover readers are fond of KORN (and my apologies to those who are.) [For their taste or for what you are about to write? -ed.]

But the handwringing over Korn’s latest financial dealings is the kind of head-in-the-sand thinking that has driven the major label music business to the brink of disaster.

Over the past few years, Korn has basically turned itself into an investment vehicle. This latest move makes Korn, its concert promoter, and its record label shared partners in Korn’s success. The thought behind this is that if they all share in the reward, they will all have equal impetus to market the music well.

This is a great deal for the record label, that’s for sure. Normally, they don’t make much money (if any at all) directly from touring. A label will provide recoupable funds to support a tour that promotes an album, but the only return on that investment is if the record sells enough to cover whatever tour support dollars are spent. But if the record isn’t selling during the tour, labels will frequently withdraw other forms of marketing support for the album, and artists are stuck on their own. Korn figures it can dodge this by giving all three parties a stake.

As Korn’s manager notes, its only trying to force the label and promoters to look at the band as a long term project, careerists who can earn a decent living if the band remains a reasonable priority for all involved. The problem is that as long as promoters and record labels function as bank-loan vehicles for artists, the equation is going to be a long shot for 99% of musicians.

Filed under music industry newspapers

Comments

I’m not surprised that Jonathan Davis & Co. are doing this, I mean, the guy’s been calling himself a whore since 1999’s Issues. The fact that the new Korn record is so much better than anything they’ve done in ages makes it a little less bad that they’re completely slutting it out for cash though. (Yeah, I’m the one BT reader that appreciates Korn, go figure). I do agree, however, that if this equation becomes the norm it will really make it hard for most musicians, but hey, hope it works for Korn.


— Kristen Sollee    2006-01-15 04:41    #

It’s already such an enormous uphill, slippery slope to climb for musicians, and I don’t see this deal as something possibly worse. However, I don’t think that concert promoters or the record labels are going to change their ways any more than I think musicians will. The labels are entrenched in their business practices and bound by their shareholders (i.e. ROI) and so are promoters. It’s nice that it’s a shared venture in theory, but I’m not convinced that it will change any marketing tactics or strategy with the goal of sustaining Korn’s career.

Also, my apologies (in advance) were to Korn fans who may not be appreciative of my criticism.


— John Davidson    2006-01-15 11:44    #