Lightfoot's Label...

[TheWatchman]

Just curious if he is still without a label. The last that I heard was that they were wanting to release some Massey Hall material but I guess they can't unless he has a label.

It's been quite sometime now without hearing anything from EMP or Lightfoot. I truly wonder how he is doing these days.

What is the reason for the best singer/songwriter for being without a label? Is it is health, CD sales or both? It just seems crazy that somebody is not taking advantage of releasing some of his live material. A live Massey concert from any year would outsell even "Painter" anyday. Personally, I would like to have some material released from 1974 to present.

[gwen snyder]

Well, I guess we need to call on Titan. (The only one of us with guts of steel). Who might call EMP again and ask what the status of our guy is these days...HINT...HINT.
Whadaya say, Titan?
GSS

[Borderstone]

I find it hard to believe he's without a label or that WB/Reprise would drop him after 30+ years of association. Especially since they allowed Rhino records to create the Songbook Collection as well as them releasing Complete Greatest Hits! I hope this is just A "Rumor" Passing Through.

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Borderstone

[TheWatchman]

It's probably not a rumor but when he is ready to start recording, he'll have a label.

[Bill]

I agree -- when he's ready he'll have a label. I've long thought that an artist like Gord is well suited to some of the smaller labels that concentrate more on acoustic acts...like Sugar Hill. For that matter John Prine's Oh Boy! Records. I just don't see a large label putting a lot of resources in an older act. Sort of sad, but look at the great stuff Ian Tyson is turning out on a small label.

So strip it down -- revisit Lightfoot! and enjoy.

[Scott Mac]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bill:
[B]I agree -- when he's ready he'll have a label. I've long thought that an artist like Gord is well suited to some of the smaller labels that concentrate more on acoustic acts...like Sugar Hill. For that matter John Prine's Oh Boy! Records. I just don't see a large label putting a lot of resources in an older act. Sort of sad, but look at the great stuff Ian Tyson is turning out on a small label.

Bill, I sure agree. Once in a while you can find a gem on a big label. But I would say 75% of the music I enjoy is on the indendent labels.

[brink]

I heard in an interview that A Painter Passing Through was the last recording he had to fullfill his contract with Warner/Reprise, that doesn't mean that they wouldn't do another just that his contract was completed.

[TheWatchman]

That's very true. Look at Johnny Cash, he's on the American label with Rick Rubin who produces Danzig, Nine Inch Nails etc. American and Rubin are not into all the fluff and sparkly stuff. I could see Lightfoot getting in with someone like Rubin, provided his voice is still strong enough.

[walls]

Let’s be somewhat pragmatic, the young record executives are looking for artists that appeal to a different age group and demographic. Regretfully, as talented, as experienced, as poised, and as artistically (and musically) overbearing as he may be in comparison to the younger artists, it’s about the sale of “units”.
Is a label going to invest in an artist, and these young record executives have a very definitive opinion relative to their decisions, who is considered “old”, and who hasn’t had a Top Ten Hit in a very long time?
Time passes slowly, but time can take its toll on artists that the recording industry has no further interest in.
It all centers about sales, and it’s about the audience, albeit, the Nickelodeum audience.
It is rather unfortunate that Folk Music (particularly in the era of the Lightfoot tradition)is no longer understood, taken seriously, grasped, or accepted by the masses, yet alone the media.
To deprive a musician of Lightfoot’s caliber of an opportunity to continue to create and paint on the canvases that only we, at this point, can see, is an injustice to us, and to all who come after us.
Lightfoot can, and will, continue to write poetry, intertwined with music, or music interweaved with poetry, that only a very few musicians can even contemplate of achieving, even at this point in time.
He should do what Tom Rush, and very few have done, create his own label, shun those who thing they know, and, in turn, prove the "executives" wrong.


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restless shadows

[gwen snyder]

Here, here. Go for IT!
GSS

[Auburn Annie]

The record industry is in disarray - internet downloading has them running for lawyers. Sort of like when television came on the scene when radio was king. Didn't eliminate radio but sure knocked it off its perch. I caught the tail end of a round table discussion (I think on CNBC, it was a business show) with industry executives, and one point made was that some of them are slowly (too slowly for their own survival, maybe) are coming to realize that the present way of doing business (putting most of their marketing eggs in one artist and hoping for a grand slam to carry the label) isn't working any more. See the huge contract debacles that haven't paid off. For one Mariah Carey, they could have signed a couple dozen artists whose base hits would have provided a smaller if more steady and stable stream of income. Sort of like the old days - a wide variety of artists, most of whom got at least a shot at SOME airplay on independent radio stations (not megaconglomerates with canned programs but REAL human DJs with their own quirky tastes). That's sort of what's happening now via the internet, and the record execs are getting shut out and they know it and are at a loss to stop it. But they're trying.

[gwen snyder]

Auburn Annie, I had not thought about this before...but, you may be on to something.
Survival, it sure is tough!
GSS

[This message has been edited by gwen snyder (edited April 25, 2003).]

[Borderstone]

Record industry? Huh. Record industry? What's that? I mean a...OH! I remember now! That's that old time thang,where artists release SINGLES and Albums or CD's & Cassettes! I remember that! Didn't that all come to an end,oh I don't know,67 years ago or so? No,wait! It was only like last year or so! Now that I think about it,I do recall that if you want an American #1 chart song and you don't want the whole CD,you have to buy an IMPORT which can run you anywhere from $8 to $12! Unless,the "so called" label actually realeases a CD single. Over 40 unless your Madonna and try to fit in with the young crowd,For-get-It! Why is the word Record even used anymore? Money sucking vaccum cleaner industry sounds much more suitable. It's been Me,outta here,Alberta Bound and outta cash,from trying to buy new music.

[Auburn Annie]

Harry Shearer has a wonderful editorial in today's Sunday New York Times called "Rx for Music Industry: Seek Out the Old Geezers". The link is http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/27/we...ew/27SHEA.html
The geezers he's referring to are not the artists but buyers, boomers and older with more disposable income than time needed to download files per Grokster et al. In other words, the folks who go out and buy CDs to replace their vinyl faves, whose tastes are not limited to one artist or style. The current business model, according to Shearer, is to sue the customer or former customer, the downloading, freeloading pirates such as students with wide-open wide band internet access courtesy of their universities who wonder incredulously why anyone would pay for something they can get for free. Great read.