How do EMI source an artist?

I'm hoping to describe what a band essentially is, how one comes about, gets signed etc...
I think EMI have certain charitys set up, maybe talent scouts and things?

i've no idea; sorry. i'm sure someone more useful will be along in the morning.

but dude, please, if you're writing university-level essays, LEARN TO SPELL AND PUNCTUATE.

it's really very simple. band forms. band is half decent and becomes aware of such via excessively effusive praise from their peers. you know, beyond the kinda "yeah, it was pretty good" type, obligatory mate feedback. band acheive tenuous contact with the music bizz. ie; a mate of a mate knows a guy who used to clean windows in the office block opposite the nme office.

by virtue of being able to string a few chords together band end up with a "manager". this is where fortunes can fork. if said manager is a mate of the band with no clue whatsoever, and/or little or no contacts this will inevitably result in disillusionment and the end of the story. however, if the manager has his head vaguely screwed on then the manager will appoint a lawyer, and a press agent. both will work for nothing in the short term for the same reason. ie; an impending record deal. the lawyer will tout the band around to various a+r bods. he is well connected since his business is in negotiating contracts and hence will have dealt with many a+r in the past. he will also know which a+r are particularly inclined to the genre of music in question. his motive? well if any of these contacts eventually sign the band then he will be appointed to negotiate the deal and charge accordingly. when i say accordingly, this depends on the level of interest. if 10 labels want to sign the band then the advance (received by the band) can end up spiralling. if there is only one taker then the advance is likely to be nominal. in other words a £500k deal might yield £15k in legal fees, whereas a £25k deal will be charged around the £1.5k level. the incentive for the lawyer is obvious.

the press agent will work on a similar basis. he/she will attempt to secure early support from journalists; live reviews etc. his/her ultimate goal will be to secure a retainer (a monthly fee) for their pr work for the band. any subsequent label that comes on board would not flinch at paying around £5k per month on the press promotion of a new band. hence if any given press agent has a belief that this is obtainable then they will take the band on even though there is no money in the early stages.

having bought in the lawyer and the press agent the manager may addtionally seek similar arrangements with an on-line promotion company for the purposes of building profile on blogs and messageboards etc. at this point a booking agent may also be engaged in order to secure potentially beneficial support slots, either nationwide, or if these activities prove too expensive, only in london.

if all the above perform well, and providing that the band are not utterly abysmal, then by now the a+r community would be quite likely to be taking a serious interest in the group. this will inevitably result in a key london show which will be attended by pretty much every a+r guy in town. lets assume the gig is a roaring success....

in this scenario warners and sony will outbid all other labels. the main reason being that they are desparate for uk acts. neither of these labels are capable of breaking an egg in the uk, with most of their successful artists being american acts. the sensible manager will not be swayed solely by the highest bid (advance-wise) a slew of credible indie labels (XL, domino etc) will also bid, at a slightly lower level.

EMI (or more accurately parlophone, regal etc) will bid somewhere in between the two amounts. they don't aim to compete on finance, choosing to emphasise their track record in breaking uk acts and frankly you cant argue (commercially speaking) with a roster which includes coldplay, radiohead, gorrilaz etc....

sorry waffled on for ages but hope you find this helpful.

Thanks alot, much appreciated! I'm sorry about my grammar and punctuation but an online message board and a university paper are completely different media. How many people write perfectly on message boards?

'absolutely gobsmacked that a university student could make such basic fucking errors, i mean, really, what is the world coming to? now, where's me fucking pipe and slippers ...'

If you are going to pull me up, then I would like you to capitalise your I's please, and it would be 'my pipe and slippers'...

you should have a great career in the industry since you've already suckered someone into doing part of your work for you.

You almost pwned grimly, but the 'pipe&slip" was off the boil.

Was not Mr Grimly being ironic with the use of 'me'? I often use this trick.

But then I'm not a MUVTHAFUCKIN' RETARD!

Sorry, slipped into the ilm vernacular there. I've spelt 'Muvthafuckin' wrong ain't I?

how do emi shot artist?

Another warm and friendly welcome from ILxors...

This guy isn't new. He started the Lallen thread for instance.

That makes it all right then, does it?

the 'there artists' thing really bugs and surprises me too i must admit (evidently capitalisation does not).

Maybe we should screen all prospective new posters by means of CVs and aptitude tests before letting them on ILx.

Maybe we should screen all prospective new posters by means of CVs and aptitude tests before letting them on ILx THE INTERNET.

But then again, this is exactly how Nazi Germany started.

Yeah, when the weimar republic BBS appointed Rudolf Hess as it's site admin, it certainly did kick the shit off, didn't it? All archived here:

http://weimargermany.proboards1933.com/index.cgi?board=moderator_request

I'd like to be ILM's Albert Speer.

Night Of The Long Threads

I must admit, 'there' and 'their' was a glaringly obvious mistake... but it was late and ilx doesn't have a spell checker to help idiots like myself.

At least somebody helped answer the question though, which is what I was hoping for. I don't mind getting some stick providing I get something in return.

I have another question: Do EMI or music labels in general have specific policies when it comes to signing a band? Do they have to be a certain age or look a certain way?

It's all about moolah kid. A band is just another commodity to be sold so yes, that would include packaging the product as best for the sake of profits. As they're in the business of breaking new talent (feel free to discuss that point) and bringing it to the market (sounds exciting, huh?) companies like EMI (for example) will have many smaller labels under it's tutelage in order to land the biggest catch without damaging their own brand focus. It's why there are so many labels out there, each has a roster and a 'look/sound' they're looking to angle on. Girls Aloud will not be signing to Bestial Records for example, purveyors of such delights as: Romanian doom/death/black metal label. We signed Romanian bands: Negura Bunget, Grimegod, Abigail, Kratos, God, Dies Irae, among others.

Since we're all getting touchy that last sentence could do with some re-arranging. Just hand me the gun.

'/"""""")
/_/>^"^"
/_/

Quite proud of that gun!

Thanks Tolstoy, good help

Hmmm... It looked better in the message box

Mr Albini pulls through. I was hoping someone would stump up the facts.

Is there really a band called GRIMEGOD?

Zaxxon your a star! Thats pretty much exactly what I was looking for!

Thanks

See. We please everyone in the end.

make sure you properly cite The Baffler ... a namecheck that's sure to impress

Hmm... that looks interesting.

Step 1: Marcello and Konal have nothing better to do than to wank each other off.
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Holocaust!

Have you had a night out on the town with people yet?

Trolling again, stevem?

Remember: we're here for the real you, lil dude.

i've used ilx as research base myself but this one takes the piss. e-clex shd co-credit the people who've helped.

or these.

It was only for a bit of seminar work. It's not like i'm writing something that is going to change the world lol
I just know where to look when I'm looking for good information on music (flattery gets me everywhere!)