(no subject)

[andrewducker]

Nicking this news from the IMDB. This kind of thing upsets me:

Music superstar Madonna has been ordered by her record company to re- record her new album - because it's too extreme. The pop queen has been forced to return to her Los Angeles recording studio with producer pal Mirwais after label Warners warned her the LP's electro-pop sound is over the top. A source close to the singer tells British tabloid the Daily Mirror, "Madonna feels like she delivered her best album yet last week but the record label have insisted that the material needs to be changed. They really liked what they heard and it's another example of Madonna reinventing herself. But the problem is that it's too avant-garde to be a commercial success. She had used far too many electronic synthesizers on her voice and had morphed a lot of her vocals to sound like a robot. There was even a 12 minute long track. She was reluctant, but in the end has no choice but to go back to square one." The LP - Madonna's tenth studio recording - has reportedly been provisionally titled Ein Sof, Hebrew for "Endlessness."

Comments

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

Her theme for Die Another Day didn't go down very well with a lot of people, even though it worked in context. Personally, I think she should be allowed to do what she wants, but I can see where her label is coming from.

[andrewducker]

I suppose that's the problem with the music business. It's a business.

They give you vast wodges of cash in exchange for you giving them what they think they can sell. If you want to produce something they can't sell, then you're stuffed.

I'd be interested to hear what she wanted to release. Maybe on a 'artists cut' version :->

Amusingly, Nevermind doesn't sound how Nirvana wanted it to, the studio had the producer make it sound warmer and more audience friendly. Seeing as I love how the album turned out, I'm in a complete dilemma as to what to feel about that.

Re:

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

I have less of an interest in the music business but I'm absolutely against that kind of thing when it comes to films. Commitee decisions to appeal to x, y, z demographics and avoid possible offence [and interest], just results in incredibly dull movies. I suppose we see that kind of thing in music all the time with those awful boy-bands.
I'm rather surprised Madonna doesn't have more power over her producers. If it came down to it, I'm sure she could afford to set up her own label and release what she wants.

[andrewducker]

She has her own label that releases other people's stuff, but I think she's on EMI (or whoever) so that she has their massive marketing budget behind her.

[blackmanxy.livejournal.com]

I keep wondering why the fact that she's Madonna isn't enough for her to tell the label to go to hell. Contracts, maybe?

[andrewducker]

Yup. They've given her a huge wodge of money and now she's stuck with them.

Sadly "Being Madonna" isn't a valid legal reason for anything much.

Re:

[blackmanxy.livejournal.com]

Mostly, I was thinking that her name is all the marketing power she needs. If she wasn't attached to a contract, I'm sure any number of labels would be willing to put out her album as is.