Chapter 421 421 Internal Discussion

Henry left, after dropping a lot of bombs in a row, he left without any hesitation, not even saying something cool, "contact me after you think about it, you have my business card" or something, just recovered to The usual lazy look, like a street vagabond disappeared into the noisy sea of ​​people in New York.

But the shock inside the Glory to the Dead band could not dissipate for a long time.

"What do you think?" Neil took the lead and looked at his teammates. The five of them found a step in the corner of the square and sat down, looking at each other. The band is a whole, and any decision must be passed by everyone together.

"I still want to finish the road tour." Hugo avoided Henry's focus just now and shifted the topic here. In fact, this journey is not just as simple as a tour, but also a persistence in the process of gradually adapting the band's style. Hugo does not want to give up halfway.

"Well, me too." Fu Jin also nodded, agreeing with Hugo's idea.

Alfonso was silent for a while, then raised his right hand, "I support." The most lively Pedro was speechless at this time, and his reaction seemed to be half a beat before he said loudly, "This is Isn't it of course?"

"There is no need for us to discuss this point. This is the reason why our band was established, the reason why our band came here, and the reason why the music manager took a fancy to us. If someone objected, we would not be able to get here." Earl said. That's the biggest difference between Glory to Death and a New Day and many other rock bands.

"But we can record the record first, and then continue to complete this journey after the recording is complete." Alfonso suggested, "We will not give up insisting, but at least we can be flexible. Even if we don't record a record, it is not necessary to sign a contract first. The problem, after all, the opportunity is not always here.”

Alfonso's words made sense, and Fujin raised his head to look at Hugo, "Is the strength of our band enough now?"

When it came to this topic, even Neil looked at Hugo. Hugo is currently the soul of the band. It is Hugo's creation and his spirit of instilling music that supports the entire band. Usually, everyone will supervise each other's evaluation of the band, but when making a real judgment, you still have to ask Hugo. Opinion.

Hugo knew that the band members would start to discuss this issue formally. In fact, it showed that Henry's trump card really touched everyone, and it was inevitable that they would be moved. Strictly speaking, it has only been four months since the establishment of Glory to the Dead. In fact, it is still lacking in all aspects; but objectively speaking, from Memphis, where Henry first appeared, to today's New York, it has been nearly 100 years. A month later, the strength of the band has indeed reached a new level. At present, the band's performance style has matured and gradually stabilized. Now it has enough strength to stand on a large stage.

As for the future situation, it is said that the band will continue to work hard and make progress until they are old and learn. This is also the reason why Hugo hopes to complete the road tour, from San Francisco to New York, and now circle back to Los Angeles, which is beneficial to the long-term development of the band.

"Yes, we are a very good band, of course, if Pepe can work harder, it will be even better." Hugo said with a relaxed smile, this sentence made the other four invisible. He breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile appeared on his face.

"So, how about EMI Records? This is not an independent record company." Neil thought of the contract conditions Henry mentioned just now, and he was a little excited and a little worried at the same time.

EMI Records, one of the top five record companies in the world, is definitely the leader in the industry.

There are currently five top record companies in the world, namely Universal Music, Warner Music, Bertelsmann (BMG), EMI and Sony. These five record companies have their own strengths, advantages and disadvantages. They are all established record companies for more than half a century. Together, the five companies occupy more than 50% of the global record market. It can be called the record industry. the giant crocodile.

In the United States, Universal Music is the largest record company in the 20th century, leading many competitors in market share, and the advantage is very obvious; but in the European market, EMI is the leader.

Founded in 1897, EMI Records is one of the oldest record companies in the world. During the past century of development, the company has experienced ups and downs. Some have relied on the Beatles to dominate the global record market share, and some The Beatles faced bankruptcy in the 1970s after they disbanded. It was not until the late 1980s that it recovered and started to rise again. After entering the 1990s, it relied on its rich heritage and correct investment policies, and relied on Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Queen. The strong performance of the band and other singers has returned to the top position and is currently rivaling Universal Music in the global market.

Since EMI's base is in the UK, EMI's support for local music forces in England is very strong. Among them, EMI paid a heavy price for its conservativeness because it missed the rock trend of the 1950s. After entering the 1960s, EMI supported rock bands like never before, thus creating the Beatles' record. myth. Since then, EMI's support for British rock has been unprecedented and has continued. In the past 30 years, EMI has delivered many classic rock bands to the world and pushed British rock to the world stage.

It can be said that EMI has the supreme influence in the British music industry. Almost every musician is proud to be in EMI, including those maverick rock bands, because EMI owns a variety of independent labels. Make sure it fits the style of different bands.

However, relatively speaking, EMI's influence in the North American continent must be receded. The Beatles' era EMI records are also in the US market, but after the Beatles disbanded, EMI began to lose ground, entering the 90s. Since the 1990s, Bertelsmann Records with Guns and Roses and Nirvana, Warner Records with Madonna, Rolling Eyes, Smith Orchestra, Sony Records with Michael Jackson and Bob Dylan have all started to catch up. Gradually overtaking EMI, making EMI the last of the five major record companies in the US market.

In fact, it is very simple to see the difference. British singers under EMI have an absolute advantage, and it is difficult to see American singers, which also greatly restricts EMI's US market strategy.

From the perspective of 2014 as known by Hugo, EMI records in the late 1990s benefited from the prosperity of Brit rock and aggressively seized the American music market, restored its supreme glory, and kept pace with Universal Music; After the century, British rock gradually fell silent, and there was no decent leader again, so EMI has always been reluctantly ranked at the bottom of the major companies in the American market.

However, EMI's heritage is the envy of other companies. Even if Sony Records merged Bertelsmann, making the five major record companies become the four largest, EMI still hasn't fallen behind, and even if it is squeezed by the other three competitors The space is very powerful, but EMI's market share has not fluctuated much, and it has a solid place among the four major record companies.

It is a pity, however, that EMI, which fell into the quagmire before halfway through the first decade of the 21st century, has been struggling for several years, and the British market has also been gradually eroded by its competitors. In 2011, it finally disappeared. If we can continue to persevere, Universal Music purchased the record department, while Sony Bertelsmann acquired the copyright department, and the smash hit EMI has completely gone to the end.

The record department and copyright department mentioned here are basically the vertical structure of each record company. The record department is the most well-known department, responsible for the production, publication and distribution of music, etc.; the copyright department is mainly responsible for signing contracts. Music creators, managing the copyrights of musical works, buying and selling, licensing music copyrights, etc.

After entering the 21st century, the commercialization of the music market has gone to extremes. The record industry generally believes that "the record is dead", and the value of the record department has dropped to the bottom, which means that it is difficult for the record department to find new blood to rejuvenate the music market; However, the value of the copyright sector has been gradually enlarged, especially the digital music copyright has received more and more attention along with the Internet era.

Of course, these are all things that will develop in the future. At the time of 1993, EMI Records was still the top giant enough to compete with Universal Music.

There are pros and cons to Henry Bloom who actually thinks Glory to the Dead can sign with EMI. The disadvantages are obvious. The restrictions of large record companies can easily make singers constrained. Compared with the freedom of independent records, the toughness of large record companies is difficult for newcomers to fight against; as for the advantages, it is also very obvious. The improvement of supporting facilities such as production resources can give newcomers a great advantage at the starting point.

However, the biggest advantage of EMI is their tolerance for the diversity of rock music. It is worth mentioning that Radiohead is signed to EMI. Although Radiohead did not get much response in the UK, and EMI did not pay enough attention; but after the international department decided to let Radiohead come to the United States, the company still gave strong support.

From here, you can see the tip of the iceberg of the pros and cons of EMI.

"If it's EMI, then consider taking a look. This is a record company that has a huge tolerance for rock, and Henry didn't promise. Will he stand on our side?" It was Alfonso who spoke. This knowledge is obviously not inferior to that of Hugo, but after he finished speaking, he still sent an inquiry to Hugo.