Blur Lead Revolt
According to stories in The Independent and Music Week, the band Blur is “leading a revolt against the sell-off of Parlophone, in protest against being treated as “assets” in the forced sale.” In other words, Blur is leading a revolt against reality.
I don’t know Blur or the other artists who “say they object to being treated as pawns in a corporate takeover” but they can revolt, complain and even strike all they want.
Nothing will change the reality of business.
A reality that they should have known.
Musicians Need to Wake Up
I’d like to say I’m stunned by the cluelessness of these artists, but I’m not.
They are typical of most musicians who think:
- It’s okay to not know anything about business and expect to be a successful musician.
- Music businesses have different rules and expectations than “regular” businesses because music is an art.
- Music business people’s #1 responsibility is to build and care for musicians lives because they’re artists.
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The Reality of Blur’s Situation
Whether they’ve realized it or not, Blur is getting a rude awakening to the fact that you can’t expect to be a successful musician and not know anything about business.
If they had known more about music, they would have known that:
- Universal Music’s #1 responsibility is to build and care for Universal Music. Huge mergers like this one always lead to layoffs, cuts and sales of divisions. And make no mistake,
- Universal Music is a “regular” business. Period.
Blur Isn’t an Asset, They’re a Liability
The truth behind this story is that for Universal, Parlophone is actually a liability. And so is Blur.
And just like any other regular business with a liability, Universal Music is selling Parlophone as quickly as it can.
What are your thoughts? Is Universal right or wrong?
