LOS
ANGELES (NARIP) - In front of a packed ballroom in the Beverly Garland
Holiday Inn, Tess Taylor, President of NARIP (National Association of
Record
Industry Professionals), led a panel discussion entitled
"A&R Think Tank: New Realities of Finding New Recording Artists."
On
the panel with Taylor were Sat Bisla of A&R Worldwide, Jeff Blue of
RCA
Music Group, Ritch Esra of the
Music Business Registry, and Perry
Watts-Russell of Warner Bros. Records.
While acknowledging the
setbacks suffered by the record industry, the panelists were unanimous
about the ultimately positive results that are on the horizon for music
lovers, artists, and record companies.
Among their comments:
- Ritch Esra: We'll see many more small firms selling smaller numbers of records each for an increase in total sales.
-
Sat Bisla: Finding new talent is, in many ways, easier now because
there are a lot of avenues for music to be heard. College radio,
Internet distribution, satellite radio, and the iPod.
- Esra:
There are fewer major label signings, but the labels are more committed
to the artists they sign. Ironically, this has opened the door to
thousands of independent artists and indie labels.
- Jeff Blue: I'm always concerned with this: is the artist amazing? That's when you can commit to working with them.
-
Perry Watts-Russell: There is an audience for all that is not
homogenized, formularized and corporate. There are many listeners who
are interested in the truthfulness of the act.
- Bisla: The
art of A&R has diminished in recent years. Fewer A&R people
know a great deal about producing, marketing, songwriting, song
selection, performance, or radio.
- Watts-Russell: I think the most important thing is to sign better artists.
-
Bisla: The best methodology [for artist contracts lies in structuring
partnership agreements, with thresholds for payment at each level of
achievement. By working together, each side of the partnership stands
to gain more.
- Esra: Each of us can name artists who have
sold significant numbers of albums, and even gone gold and platinum,
but whose names are not generally recognized except by the segment of
the market that responds to their music.
- Blue: The future
will be great. There is so much more access to every genre of music, so
many more ways to get and hear music. People are going to be influenced
by types of music they never thought they'd get to hear.
Read the complete article at:
https://www.narip.com/index.php?page=article/ThinkTank
