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Re: Azoff-Axl Lawsuit Settled: Includes "comprehensive touring agreement"
Axl has released 15 original studio tracks in 20 years.......:mad: I don't hold alot of hope for future releases.
Sadly... I agree. I'm hoping DJ stimulates his interest in one more final run. 'Cause a reunion don't seem to be it.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Azoff-Axl Lawsuit Settled: Includes "comprehensive touring agreement"
Somehow I doubt the record company will feel like they got their money's worth if Axl recorded 40 tracks and only released 14.
I agree in the sense that on many artists they'd spend $200k and get an album....but then records are always a gamble...and if you look at the bigger picture of Axl's involvement with the record company:
Let's just look at AFD to start with. These sums are a little Australian centric with tax rates..which would be slighlty different in other places but you get the idea.
The price has changed over time too...like back in the day records were like $29 or more here, now older album are around $10.
But seeing as most AFD sales were in the day, lets look at what happens to a record sale at that price. There's some assumptions here but it's semi reasonable to assume something like this IMO:
Final RRP (inc tax): $29.99
Tax Component: $2.73
RRP (no tax): $27.26
Dealer's Margin: 40.0% : $10.91
PPD: $16.36
Tax Component of PPD: $1.49
PPD (no tax): $14.87
Distribution Costs: (normally around 20.0%) : $2.97
Packaging: (normally around 25.0%): $3.72
Artist Royality: (normally around 15.0% for first album): $2.23
Mechanical Songwriting Royality (8.7%) : $1.29
Total Deductions: $10.22
Royalty Base Price: $4.65
Unit Cost: $0.88
Label Profit: $3.77 (per sale)
AFD Sales: 28,000,000 records.
Label Profit: $105,690,095.87
Now it's not that simple, because some records are sold at $10 and others at $30...so that's not an exact figuire. But that's only AFD...now consider in UYI 1+2 which were #1 and #2 records at the same time, and even TSI and GH and the band has sold something around 100,000,000 records.
So if we consider those sums at $9 a record the record company makes $51 Million and then if you play with them around $30 then they make around $377 Million....
truth is somewhere in the middle as there's no way in fuck that they sold these things for $9 in the 1980/90s...but also no way the GH sales are full price these days....
But I'd say it's safe to assume that Axl has made the record company somewhere between 50 and 370 Million dollars...probably something like $200m or so would be my guess.
So yeah...i'm not saying the money spent on chinese wasn't over the top...but if you look at it in the context of the label's entire business relationship with the band it's a drop in the ocean.
- tejastech08
- Rep: 194
Re: Azoff-Axl Lawsuit Settled: Includes "comprehensive touring agreement"
Dude, why did you just use Australian prices to estimate the cost of AFD around the entire world? That's crazy bro. 
In any event, the "drop in the bucket" angle doesn't work because the label cut off Axl's funding and he allegedly shelled out millions of his own cash to finish the album.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Azoff-Axl Lawsuit Settled: Includes "comprehensive touring agreement"
Dude, why did you just use Australian prices to estimate the cost of AFD around the entire world?
hahah...I wasn't saying it was exact.
The model I used is pretty much the same in any country with minor variations - record companies here model their business entirely on United States businesses.
In order to create proper sums you'd need access to confidential info (such as the actual terms of GNR's contracts) and a massive mathmatical model accounting for every exchange rate change over 3 decades and some kind of median sales figures for every country over 30 years as well. So creating a proper calculation for it is well beyond my abilities without proper data....
But my point remains...it's factual that GNR has sold 100m records...and that would have to add up to millions and more likely hundreds of millions of dollars earned by the record label. So even if he wasted $12m - they're still in the black by a very long way. I think the cut off was more to do with the lack of meeting deadlines rather than the actual money involved personally...althogugh we can't know without being there. Bottom line even for a cash cow like GNR a big corporate label isn't going to give you money endlessly if they start to think you'll never finish the album.
I just feel that while $12m was a lot to spend, people make it sound like the companies got screwed, and in the scheme of things they very much have not. They just made less of a killing than they usually do.
- tejastech08
- Rep: 194
Re: Azoff-Axl Lawsuit Settled: Includes "comprehensive touring agreement"
The other thing here is you can't ignore the financial toilet that the music industry is in thanks to piracy. GN'R may have made hundreds of millions for Geffen/Universal back in the day, but the fact is they're fuckin' broke at this point DESPITE the success of bands like GN'R and other big names in the industry. No matter how much success GN'R had 20 years ago, it's irrelevant to the label's balance sheet at this point.
Re: Azoff-Axl Lawsuit Settled: Includes "comprehensive touring agreement"
I heard Howard Stern talk about this today, it's somewhat related to the topic, so why not.
From Bod Lefsetz daily blog.
http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/page/2/
Oldsters With New Releases
I heard a Robbie Robertson song on the radio today.
Sirius XM’s Loft. There’s not a terrestrial radio station that’d play the Canadian’s new album. Not that he knew that.
I’m constantly scratching my head. These oldsters put out new music thinking it’s 1979, certainly no later than 1989, and then they’re flummoxed when nothing happens.
This is what they need to do:
1. You’ve got to know who your fans are.
It’s best if you’ve got everybody’s e-mail address. But you need a presence on Facebook and Twitter too. If someone decides to check you out on a whim, which is what fans do, we mindlessly surf to the firing of neurons in our brains, you’d better be readily available online, with up to date information. People will go to Facebook first, but if you’ve got a Web page don’t focus on design but information. Even if you yourself don’t post, make sure there’s new info EVERY DAY! That’s what makes people come back. And if you’re posting on Facebook or Twitter it had better be you, nothing pisses people off more than when an impostor, your lackey, posts for you. It’s easy to detect, just like boys impersonating girls online and vice versa. Anybody who says you can’t tell the sex of someone online doesn’t play, it’s OBVIOUS!
2. You must be willing to work.
And I don’t only mean in the studio. If you’re not willing to put in all day every day for the better part of a year, don’t even start.
It’s like starting all over. All the old media you employed to get the word out is diminished or irrelevant. Chances are your audience doesn’t listen to the radio, or if it does, they don’t listen to the stations that might air your music. Oldsters listen to NPR. A segment there helps, but it doesn’t define. It’s best for brand new acts, not old farts. Late night TV is meaningless. If you’re friends with Dave, do it, but don’t expect a sales bump. Sunday morning TV is better, as are "Today" and the other morning shows, but don’t go on and do happy talk, if you can’t say something worthy of restatement/link, you probably shouldn’t invest your time. And I’m not saying to whore yourself out, to make stuff up or reveal personal items you don’t want to, it’s just that TV is a mass medium. And you’re niche. EVERYBODY’S NICHE!
3. The music had better be damn good.
And only release that which is good. If that means your album is only four or eight tracks, so be it. Price it accordingly. Don’t worry about CDs, chances are retailers aren’t even going to stock ‘em. We live in a digital world. Focus on MP3s. Don’t tell me they sound shitty, that’s like lamenting the loss of vents in car windows, that ship has sailed, it’s HISTORY!
4. Video
There had better be tons. And it had better be on YouTube. And don’t bother spending money and doing something slick, hiring hairdressers and the like. Buy a camera and have your son or daughter shoot you playing, around the house, and upload this footage. It’s not about one infinitely playable clip, it’s about having enough stuff up there that if someone stumbles upon you, they can go deeper, find more. That’s the mantra of today, not thin for everybody, but vast for those who care. Focus only on those who care. If you’re lucky, your new project will grow. But probably not.
5. Topspin/Bandcamp
You need multiple formats of your project to sell. Not only the MP3s but vinyl (it’s a souvenir!) and a photo book and autographed ____________. The most expensive stuff sells first. But make it worth it.
6. Access
That’s what everybody wants. Answer e-mail and people will be blown away. At least show footage from backstage or in your house. Figure out a way to meet the public. And I don’t mean at a record store! Do a house concert in each and every state. Have a contest. You show up and play acoustically. Or maybe full bore electric in the backyard. If the police show up, you’re lucky! You’ll get press, you’ll be a local hero. Think local! You can be the biggest news in nowheresville as opposed to the smallest news in the big city. And news from anywhere can be experienced everywhere if it’s interesting or funny.
7. Virality
You never know what is gonna go, what’s gonna get people’s attention and fly. Which is why you’ve got to do a lot. What’ll spread is what you least expect, that which is rough not smooth, the day your hair looked bad and your voice cracked. See this Paul Simon clip for example. This went viral, it had greater penetration than all of the mainstream press, it made Paul look good, it enhances his reputation:
8. It’s not about record sales, it’s about your career.
Forget the number, you’re trying to regain a place in people’s consciousness. If you’re not working live when you put your new music out, don’t.
9. You’re not a star.
This is hardest for oldsters to fathom. But today, everybody’s in it together, we’re all equal. Don’t talk down to us from above, get in the pit with us!
10. Be three-dimensional.
Food is hotter than music. Tweet where you eat, say what you like.
11. Know that youngsters are more popular than you.
The Doobie Brothers could not get arrested with their new album. But they just did a CMT Crossroads with Luke Bryan and blew him off the stage, Tom Johnston can still sing! (http://bit.ly/iAKfFH) CMT works, because the audience still believes in it. MTV airs no music and VH1 makes you look like a tool, stay away. Like Tom Johnston, you want to show you’ve still got it, you want to remind people how great you were…and still are.
12. ESPN
Get them to feature your song. It’s part of your awareness campaign. And start local. Don’t only sing the National Anthem at the ballpark/stadium of your local team, give a free concert after the game. Give back. Show your roots.
Nothing sells itself anymore. It’s a constant fight to stay in the public eye. You grow from the bottom up, not the top down. You want to look like you’re all about the fans and the music, not the money. Hell, give away a little money, do some charity work, but don’t pose for pictures, let the info leak out, just mention it in passing. People hate braggarts. Don’t you realize, we’re making fun of you! Robbie Robertson with the dyed hair and the slick suits… Huh? Are you a vain banker or a musician? We’re old and grizzly, why aren’t you?
13. Festivals
Buffalo Springfield had this right. Doing Bonnaroo. Shows you’re cool and gives you a chance to connect with the young ‘uns.
Everything I’ve said above is known to the young ‘uns. Except for those nitwits without talent who utilize TV competition shows to try and make it. Music is a lifelong struggle. You may have made bank then, but if you still want to count musically today you’ve got to see yourself as broke. Hell, artistically you are!
Re: Azoff-Axl Lawsuit Settled: Includes "comprehensive touring agreement"
The other thing here is you can't ignore the financial toilet that the music industry is in thanks to piracy. GN'R may have made hundreds of millions for Geffen/Universal back in the day, but the fact is they're fuckin' broke at this point DESPITE the success of bands like GN'R and other big names in the industry. No matter how much success GN'R had 20 years ago, it's irrelevant to the label's balance sheet at this point.
Axl would not be signed to Universal/Geffen after all the bullshit IF he wasn't still bringing them bacon. Let's not get carried away. They make money off Axl being semi content. Period. He holds the key to all future releases...past. present, and future.
- tejastech08
- Rep: 194
Re: Azoff-Axl Lawsuit Settled: Includes "comprehensive touring agreement"
He holds the key to all future releases...past. present, and future.
Which is why the label was able to release Greatest Hits despite his lawsuit? 
Re: Azoff-Axl Lawsuit Settled: Includes "comprehensive touring agreement"
The Cult are already taking this approach and are also trying to stay on the cutting edge.
For awhile they were thought to be dead and buried, a forgotton band of the 80's, and were gonna hang it up.
'Til it dawned on them... who says we have to release 14-track full albums? So they've taken the approach of doing like 4-song EP's and offering fans bonuses for higher prices like alternate takes, demos, vinyl's of the EP, back stage passes, etc. and doing it all from their website & Twitter.
Don't know how it's working out, but I hear that most industry insiders think this will be the wave of the future.
I HOPE FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST SOMEONE WITH A BRAIN TELLS AXL! This would be PERFECT for him. He cuts a few songs when he's in the mood, drops them before each new leg of a "hits" tour, and BOOM, every 2-3 years, you've got a whole new full GN'R album.
