There's a new story in the NY Times that focuses on the band Paramore (or as I like to call them, "Hayley Williams and the Guys Who Aren't Hayley Williams"). The article is about 360 deals, also known as "multiple rights deals." For those who don't know, a 360 deal is a contract in which a band agrees to share profits from many business ventures -- including album sales, concert sales, merchandise and other revenue sources -- in exchange for more "comprehensive career support." Basically, the band gives up a bunch of money and the label gives them more time and freedom to grow as artists, instead of rushing out their CDs.
With album sales in decline, the goal of record labels is to turn their artists into more than just musicians. They want artists to be brand names. If this concept sounds familiar, it's probably because you saw the episode of "Entourage" where Vince looks for a new agent, and they all give really corporate-sounding presentations and say things like "Coca-Cola... Apple... Vincent Chase."
One "brand name" artist that the article mentions specifically is Hayley Williams, the 18-year old singer of Paramore. From the Times:
Though its success is in large part due to smart pop songwriting and a fashion-forward frontwoman, music executives and talent managers also cite Paramore as a promising example of a rising new model for developing talent.
Because kids love Hayley, they want to buy stuff like Paramore t-shirts and orange hair dye. Like any good businesspeople, Paramore's label recognized this weakness and proceeded to exploit the sh*t out of it (much like a hawk swooping in on a wounded squirrel). That might sound bad, but it's exactly what they should do. With these 360 deals, labels make more money, bands make better music, and your little sister inadvertantly turns her scalp orange during an errant dye-job, allowing you to make fun of her for weeks. It's a win-win-win.
