http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/lmds503.htm Big business means discord for small bands By Bruce Haring, USA TODAY Some of your favorite musicians may soon be looking for work. Seagram-owned Universal Music Group, which became the largest record company in the world late last year thanks to its $10 billion merger with PolyGram Entertainment, is trimming its roster. The goal: Sell more records by focusing marketing, promotion and publicity efforts on fewer artists. While such Universal Music superstars as Sheryl Crow, Shania Twain, Hole and U2 have nothing to worry about, many lesser-known acts are sweating harder than the act following the banjo player at the county fair. As many as 400 to 500 bands may face the blade over the next few months, according to various estimates by industry insiders. Those most at risk: acts that are perceived to have either no real shot at developing into multimillion-selling acts, the lifeblood of big record companies, or lack the hip cachet that would attract new bands to the labels. The winnowing process isn't being taken lightly. Universal executives on both coasts have spent the last three months studying the artist rosters of the combined companies, listening to music, going to live shows, and interviewing musicians and managers. As might be expected, the mood in the music industry is grim. "Personally, I've never seen anything like this," says "Big" Jon Platt, a vice president for EMI Music Publishing, a company not affected by the merger. "Usually, it would be like, 'Oh, well,' in this business. This time, people were really affected by it because I think they think next time it could be them." Doug Morris, chairman of Universal Music Group, says any cuts are strictly up to the tastes of his label heads, which include such industry heavies as Interscope's Jimmy Iovine, a former engineer for Bruce Springsteen and U2 whose taste for cutting-edge acts helped make the label one of the success stories of the 1990s. "And I don't want it done in a cookie-cutter kind of way where (the labels) all look the same," Morris says. "They're going to have their own shades and flavors and have different philosophies about how to break records, about what kind of videos to make, about how to market records." So far, the upheavals have produced few surprises and little real action. U2 has been shifted to Interscope Records from its longtime home at Island; Boyz II Men have left Motown for Universal. Most of the artists who have already been pink-slipped by Universal are little known (MCA's Dance Hall Crashers is one example), with many having yet to release a record. The most intriguing names on the potential drop list are churned by the rumor mill, most of them failing to pan out: Lionel Richie (no, says a spokesperson, although Richie has yet to meet his new bosses); South Park theme composers Primus (no, says management, merely a rumor likely started by a Web site); popsters Weezer (no comment from management); experimentalists Sonic Youth (no); mope-rocker Morrissey ("no information at this time," says a spokesperson); and Paula Abdul (also "no information at this time"). The acts being dropped by Universal are "the superstars of niche," according to Alternative Distribution Alliance president Andy Allen, who heads the Time Warner division that handles distribution for small projects and affiliated labels. For example, Allen hypothetically cites "a metal band that might sell 100,000 to 150,000 units, which may not be enough to sustain their existence at a major, but is a great band to have at an indie label." In the wake of the cutbacks at Universal, many observers are predicting a renaissance of small, niche-oriented independent labels, many of them eager to snap up the spoils. Jonathan First, president of Edel America Records, a cash-rich European indie now making inroads into the USA, is one potential customer. First says his company is looking for "young talent." "A lot of the acts that were developed at Geffen and A&M haven't even had the chance to come out yet, and some of them are quite good," First says. "What we do is evaluate the credibility and quality of the music, and also think about the marketing of the act. We have to really believe we can do something with it. We don't sign many things here, but what we do sign, we really, really work." Dan Beck, president of Richard Branson's V2 Records, says he's also shopping. "For us, we'd be very excited about an act that had 10,000 or 20,000 units they had sold and had started to establish something," Beck says. "It might be called a failure (at a major label), but it could be just the first step toward success." Despite the robust indie market, artists shouldn't dawdle about finding a new home, industry observers say. The cost efficiencies achieved by lopping acts at Universal are going to be watched very closely at other record companies owned by multinational corporations. Potentially, that could result in additional acts competing for a new home. "You're going to see every other label tightening its belt," predicts Melinda Newman, West Coast bureau chief for Billboard magazine. "Don't be at all surprised if the stockholders at Time Warner or Sony say, 'Hey, you know, Universal/PolyGram merged and made all these cuts. How come we can't make these cuts?' What really matters is keeping your stockholders happy. Music really doesn't matter at all unless it's going to make someone money."
