EMI to Offer Instant Concert Recordings

EMI has announced that it has plans to sell recordings of live concerts on flash drives, CDs and/or DVDs immediately following the show.

Instant concert recording isn't new: EMI sub-label Mute Records has had a similar program in place since 2004--according to the press release, 10 percent of fans at a recent Blur concert downloaded the show afterward--and Willie Nelson has been selling flash drives with on-the-spot concert recordings for several years. But having a large record label like EMI on board legitimizes the practice.

A good piece of news from the music industry? Well I never!

Hope this means more attention is paid towards getting the live mixing done properly, I'm not that picky but I have been to a few gigs that must have been mixed by a mostly deaf guy, or a random-number generator. I'd gladly pay for this - I can forget some forgetful albums but even the worst of concerts will always be with me

While I think it's about time they did this, it may also be a double edged sword.

If you see a great show by an EMI artist and you want to relive it, it's good for the fan. However I wouldn't put it past EMI to take a large chunk of the profits, as they are one of the worse labels at that.

Originally Posted by IndieSnob

While I think it's about time they did this, it may also be a double edged sword.

If you see a great show by an EMI artist and you want to relive it, it's good for the fan. However I wouldn't put it past EMI to take a large chunk of the profits, as they are one of the worse labels at that.

Yeah, you always hear that concert sales and merchandise at concerts is the way artists currently get the biggest slice of their income (because the labels keep almost everything from record sales). Couldn't you see the record label requiring an artist to sign over the rights to their live concerts in advance if this idea takes off? Then give the artist the same supposedly tiny amount they do for CD sales.

Originally Posted by Ualdayan

Yeah, you always hear that concert sales and merchandise at concerts is the way artists currently get the biggest slice of their income (because the labels keep almost everything from record sales). Couldn't you see the record label requiring an artist to sign over the rights to their live concerts in advance if this idea takes off? Then give the artist the same supposedly tiny amount they do for CD sales.

I had a friend who was on Capitol, which of course is part of EMI.

This was back in the late 90s, but I know his contracts weren't all that hot. On merchandise he made out OK, but on a lot of other things the splits were pretty bad.

He didn't really sell well with the label, so the jump to an indie wasn't too hard of a decision for him. It's also funny that he sells probably 20% less units on an indie (less promotions, radio, advertising, etc. etc.), but he makes more because the contract has better splits.

The Mute Project that involved instant copies of the show at the end of the show itself was done as a series called Live Here Now. Both Erasure and Depeche Mode used it for at least one full tour where every date for a leg had CDs available. Erasure was the first artist to do this on that sublabel, but now it looks like Live Here Now has done it for a ton others.. Goldfrapp, Blur, Moby, ++++++++ Surfers, Heaven 17, Laibach, Mylo, Nick Cave, Underworld, Throbbing Gristle...

For the Erasure sets, of which I had a couple copies from different shows... it's a digipack with an identical layout for each date, no tracklisting, but just a stamp on top of the artwork with text on that show's date, location and venue. Typically was spanned across two CDRs. The more collectible shows are the ones where they fucked up... heh.

It was a neat idea when it was first done, I thought it was past due. Getting a copy of the show on a thumbdrive is something I would have expected 5 years ago. Recording quality is surprisingly good. Aside from the occasional noticable volume adjustments on vocals, the mix is pretty balanced and modestly compressed... So it doesn't tend to sound like a thin "hook it up to the headphones jack" soundboard recording. Sounds like a proper live cd released by the label, just without the studio overdubs and tinkering.

Doesn't some greasebag person/corporation have ridiculous patents involving the supply of immediate recordings of concerts? I could have sworn it was completely absurd, along the likes of One-Click-Purchase or the unbalanced-weight-on-a-motor rumble feature of game controllers.