From: Irving Azoff
Subject: re: Buffett “sell a plane” quote and the digital space

“Vanity Fair” wrote:

“Moderator Irving Azoff, the owner of Azoff MSG entertainment responded with a zinger for Buffett, whom he told to ‘sell one of the planes.'”

In classic fashion, the press twisted words about getting paid by
selling planes rather than focusing on how hard it is to actually get
paid online as an artist. There’s no rewards program for frequent
streamer-miles yet….

The point I was trying to make was that guys my age and Jimmy Buffett’s age need to be looking at digital services as the future, not the present road for real money. We might need to sell some tangible assets if we want to keep playing in the streaming music space because it’s hard for today’s legacy artists to make a real buck in the digital space vs the touring business. I don’t think that’s going to change in the near term.

_______________________________________

From: Dan Navarro
Subject: Re: The Jimmy Buffett Dustup

What I never see mentioned in any account of the economics of the music business is that labels recoup off the artists’ share, not off the top.

That simple fact alone means that it is mathematically possible…even likely…that a record can be in profit, based on sales numbers and wholesale prices, but the artist remains unrecouped, which is then spun to imply that the label is not paid back for its investment.

It has also meant that managers go for the quick kill on the advance, since they know that, hit or not, they may never see another dime in royalties.

I can’t help but factor that into any opinion I have of the economics of the record business, and how much artists are paid. We’re not trying to get rich, we’re trying to get paid, accurately, fairly, in a timely manner.

_______________________________________

Re: Paul Revere

Thank You Bob
I am not good at saying goodbye! You did it for me. Of course I loved Paul and all the Raiders records!
Yes. Even us Brits got a taste of that fun band although we didn’t see the TV show! Thank you for saying good bye so beautifully!

Peter Noone

_______________________________________

Dear Bob
In response to your piece ”Napster would kill creation ” etc.

I have been a record producer since 1966, so i can speak with the experience of history. In spite of all the stories and myths about how unfair and horrible record companies were prior to the ”new” world of the internet and streaming, the old model, as flawed as it might have appeared was responsible for  facilitating the entire history of recorded music. From Louis Armstrong to Michael Jackson, it was the structure of discovery and development that defined the record business. The pecking order that was in place during these years made us all better at what we did. If you were going to make it, you had to have your s___ together. It drove the most talented, the hardest working, the best and the brightest to achieve the results that now comprise the catalogues of the streaming services. Somehow in spite of the snakes and hustlers that sometimes ran the business, what was created was a body of work of great value and beauty. What has the ”new ” model Created.

Stewart Levine
Record Producer

_______________________________________