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Artist doesn’t need record label
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 10 March 2010
Secondly, Charlotte Church has signed a 360 degree deal with Power Amp, the music investment firm whose most high profile venture to date was probably their Madness alliance.
According to the FT, the deal is worth £2 million, a chunk of which will finance a new album now set for Autumn release. In return for the investment Power Amp’s investors will get 50% of the singer’s recording, publishing, merchandising and live revenue for an undisclosed period of time. Copyrights, I’m pretty sure, will stay with the Church, which is good news for God. No, not that church, obviously.
Power Amp chief Tom Bywater wouldn’t be drawn on how much profit he hopes to make from the two million his investors will pump into the Charlotte Church venture, though he did tell the FT his wider business model aimed to double each investor’s money every three years.
Church admitted the attraction of the Power Amp arrangement was that it provided a major label level budget, but ensured her more control over her output. Church: “[The deal] provides me with a financial commitment equivalent to that of a major record company but with a much greater degree of control and ownership over my career”.
Of course, Power Amp are the first to admit that they look to work with record companies when it comes to distributing the recorded output of artists they invest in, and IFPI would be sure to point out putting money into Madness and Charlotte Church is not the same as labels investing that cool million into a totally new band. Still, whether or not you agree with the aforementioned IFPI report, OK Go and Charlotte Church both provide some useful extra case studies for the “ha, who needs record label” brigade.
