Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 00:09:55 -0800 From: matt Subject: BAD NEWS FROM 4AD Matt wrote: >> i'm not auctioning any 4AD stuff, as i'm pretty >> sure ivo would immediately fire me. Cedric replied: >Ha ! Ha ! Quote of the month, as far as I'm concerned. Well what do you know! So soon after writing those very words, I was told that 4AD is cutting its US office down to just two people. I will no longer be in the 4AD office as of mid-february or so. The reason is simple. The distribution deal with Warner Brothers expired at the end of 1997 and was not renewed. Warner Brothers provided the funds for operating this office and keeping it staffed witrh a small, but hard-working and dedicated staff. Alas, now there are no funds, and I have no job. I have absolutely no idea what I'll be doing next, but I'll pop up somewhere, most likely in the northeast. What this means in terms of 4AD visibility, information, and all the fun stuff I provide to retail and radio remains to be seen. I certainly don't envy the two people running the office by themselves. Of course, now it is very important that I get rid of everything in my auction, as I may soon have to move on short notice. I'll be adding many more items later this weekend, so go by and check it out at www.tcnj.edu/~mackay/. Perhaps there'll be something of interest to you. I'm going to end the auction on Thursday, Jan. 29th. That's all for now, I'll let you know about further developments as they happen. Right now, I just need a drink. matt@4AD Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 12:09:26 -0500 From: Jeff Keibel Subject: 4AD's Last Dance I find myself really bummed out over hearing this news from our fearless Matt. As someone who has called up and bugged Matt more times than be would have liked, I can say that this is a great loss to 4AD. Matt always made time for me and answered all my kollektor skum questions. Where ever you go Matt, know that you helped make recent 4AD fan life that much more enjoyable and satisfying. As for the others leaving, well I don't know who is left. I imagine the two RH's will make it. Along with Matt and whomever else is getting their 4AD severance package, big hearty thanks to you for doing a great job and making a difference with a label we all love so dear. Now, as for Warner Brothers... Aside from keeping a US office staffed and dumping some cash into gusGus, what have they really PRODUCED for 4AD?? Any distributor can get discs into the store but the general lack of promotional aid in the form of money was quite noticable. Where were the big ads in national magazines? Aside from those "Shoe Pie" ads, which Doctor Martens probably paid for, there hasn't really been a big marketing force from the WB folks. I saw WAY more ads for "Lovesongs For Underdogs", "Death To The Pixies" and "Limbo" than almost every other band on the roster with the possible exception of "Polydistortion". WB never cared about His Name Is Alive, Mojave 3 or Lisa Germano and it showed. WB should have ensured the contract was renewed but now bands will be licensed out on a individual basis to the best distributor for that band. Of course, gusGus, Dead Can Dance and Lisa Gerrard will likely be retained by Warner Bros. as the prestige and future sales won't be too bad at all for them. OR, was it a case of Ivo's dream of getting a unified US distribution deal -- a dream that never really came true?? No wonder Warner Bros. was unhappy with their little "deal". A sunny day in the Spring of 1992 saw a deal signed with a label famous for such current/recent bands as Cocteau Twins, The Breeders, Pixies, Belly, and Throwing Muses -- all bands that the WB deal couldn't touch. What was left were strange albums like "Cobalt Blue", "Blow", "Queer" and "Hits". A major like WB just couldn't "get" these types of "products" and the sales proved it. Well, whatever happened, a chunk of the US office is gone. Some of the finest people in the biz are no longer there and it is a sad day. Sorry to rant and go on about it. Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 10:50:36 +0000 From: Rich Holtzman Subject: Re: I heard a rumor! just to be clear, and it may simply be semantics but I feel the need to say it. 4AD is no longer in a deal with Warner Bros. and we are glad about that, we did not want to continue the deal with them and had they tendered a deal would have not accepted it. Now the 2 artists that will continue to go through Warner (gusgus and Dead Can Dance and any subsequent projects) should get a bit more attention than usual. rich Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 14:15:24 -0400 From: Jeff Keibel Subject: Structural Infidelity >From the July issue of Alternative Press, who also have a web page at http://www.altpress.com and will apparently be offering some sort of 4AD promotion as Rich mentioned a few posts ago... This Immortal Coil: 4AD label restructures; Pixies, Cocteaus collections in the works... Since the end of its six-year licensing deal with Warner Bros. last December, the future of British label 4AD has been under speculation. Robin Hurley, the director of 4AD's American office, says that the label be be seeking individual licensees for its various artists, although Dead Can Dance and gusGus will remain on the WB roster. "There has been a change in the structure here," says Hurley, "but I don't think it's negative. The WB deal was very good on a relationship level - they were very supportive. But it showed that a label deal is flawed because you're giving them a lot of artists which they really have no vested interest in. We're looking to license albums of our new artists to major or indie labels across the country, depending on the right approach." Hurley also says that 4AD has entered into a special deal with Alternative Distribution Alliance to distribute and manufacture certain one-off projects, including several vearious artists compilations augmented with bonus material (the first collections will feature Red House Painters and Lisa Germano). Among the the one-offs will be the classic 4AD compilation "Lonely Is An Eyesore", the first Bauhaus album ("In The Flat Field") and the three albums by label founder Ivo Watts-Russell's This Mortal Coil project. Hurley says that 4AD will be seeking licensees for Watts-Russell's new project, The Hope Blister, whose debut offering, "...smile's ok", was just released in England, as well as new albums by His Name Is Alive ("Fort Lake") and new signings Cuba and starry smooth hound. In related news, 4AD via Elektra will be releasing a collection of the Pixies recordings for the BBC's Peel Sessions on July 6th. Watts-Russell is also working with members of Cocteau Twins for a boxed-set antholgy for release in 1999. Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 17:16:58 -0500 From: dreadnaut Subject: Re: 4ad Payday Cedric Caspesyan wrote: > Do you seriously think 4ad drops band cos they don't sell ? Yes. I do. At least, they used to, when they were still trying desperately to hold onto their distribution deal with WEA. Before they enlisted with Warners, they didn't give a flying rats ass about charts and sales. Hopefully that will be the case once again now. > Do you seriously believe that 4ad have the slicest idea > about what sells and what doesn't when recruiting new bands ? > Or that 4ad represents the clumsiest label on earth, always making > the wrong choices ? They chose to go with Warners in the first place, didn't they? That was a pretty bad decision, if you ask me. Just because Ivo and cohorts have exceptional taste and instincts doesn't mean that they are perfect and incapable of making mistakes. They are human. This doesn't make them "the clumsiest label on earth". Just a record label, like many others. This is, in the end, after all the allure and fascination, what they are.