Risky business

Unigram and MP3

by Matt Ashare

Just as the global trend toward multinational corporate consolidation and the potential Y2K computer disaster are two of the main issues contributing to a general sense of pre-millennium malaise, it's mergers and computers that are shaping up as the key concerns for music in early '99. For the first time in the music business since Sony purchased CBS and CDs became pop's dominant format, the business of music is making more headlines than the music itself. In fact, except for a few stray releases by artists such as Ani DiFranco, the Black Crowes, Silkk the Shocker, Sugar Ray, Fun Lovin' Criminals, and possibly Collective Soul, there are few new albums of commercial note set to hit the racks until at least the end of February. It's almost as if the music industry has entered a holding pattern.

The most immediate reason: a giant corporate sale that's been in the works since May of '98 and which takes effect this month, reducing the number of major labels from six to five and creating the largest record company ever. The players are Seagram, which owns the Universal Music Group, and PolyGram Records, the label group formerly owned by Philips and recently purchased by Seagram. The result: Unigram, a giant company that includes Interscope, A&M, Geffen, MCA, Mercury, Universal, Island, Def Jam, Motown, Verve, Mercury Nashville, and MCA Nashville. It's already been reported that both A&M and Geffen are being folded into Interscope, that jobs will be lost, and that bands will be dropped. But how a merger of this size, which follows similar corporate consolidations in the radio/broadcast and concert industries, will impact the business in general is anybody's guess. So it's no surprise that big-name acts such as Nine Inch Nails, who are signed to Interscope and haven't released a new album since 1994, are waiting to see how the industry realigns itself before making their next move.

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At the same time, a new technological development is threatening to transform the record business from the bottom up in a manner that may make all those CDs you've purchased over the past decade obsolete in the 21st century. The culprit: a software format called MP3, which essentially compresses digital information into convenient packages that make it relatively easy to transfer CD-quality recordings over the Internet. After a heated court battle waged by the Recording Industry Association of America, a portable MP3 player called the Rio went on the market last month. It retails for just $200 and allows users to store and play back MP3 files. Downloading music from the Internet is nothing new -- two other file formats (Liquid Audio and a2b) have been in use for several years. But MP3 is different both because of its relative convenience and because it's harder, if not impossible, for record companies to track and regulate. The ramifications are enormous: two of the main services a major label such as the new Unigram offers its artists are CD manufacturing and distribution, which also happen to be the areas in which independent labels are necessarily at a disadvantage. MP3 essentially eliminates the need for either manufacturing or distribution and could potentially level the playing field between majors and indies. Already, the indie label spinART is making MP3 files available on its Web site, and the hip-hop group Public Enemy has drawn fire from its label (Def Jam) for making new material available in MP3 files on their own Internet site. For an artist like Ani DiFranco, who has turned down major label bids in favor of her own Righteous Babe label, it would make signing a deal even less attractive.

Until these seismic events settle, there is some business continuing almost as usual. Speaking of Ani DiFranco, her new Up Up Up Up Up Up (Righteous Babe) is set for release on January 19. Also in January, look for the Black Crowes' new By Your Side (American/Columbia) and Sugar Ray's humorously titled 14:59 (Lava/Atlantic) on the 12th, and Fun Lovin' Criminals' 100% Columbian (Virgin) on the 26th, though assuming it comes out on time, the biggest-selling new disc in January should come from Master P's posse in the form of Silkk the Shocker's January 19 release Made Man (No Limit/Priority). February has a few pleasant surprises in store, as well as a mildly unpleasant one: former Replacement front guy Paul Westerberg returns on February 23 with his third solo disc, Suicane Gratification, and a new label (Capitol). The same date will also see the release of, yes, a new disc titled No Exit (Beyond) from new-wave heroes Blondie and the return of Sean's half-brother Julian Lennon with his first album in years, Photograph Smile (Universal). Still no word on whether or not Prince is going to reunite the Revolution to party like it's 1999 in '99, but it looks like Conan might be looking for a new bandleader because Bruce Springsteen is getting the E Street Band back together for a tour this spring.