Thursday, July 31, 2008

Modular Spews.


I love modular, and most of its talented lineup. I would say that it would be hard to go to any electro/indie/blog house club nights and not hear atleast 5 tunes produced/written/remixed by the artists on their roster. These are artists who are constantly touring/gigging/dj-ing around the globe, even their cd sales are quite strong for such a small label.

It is with this mindset that it shocks me that a label with this strength on it's roster has apparently lost 5.9 million dollars in the last year (according to inthemix.com.au). I hope that this is somehow false. I know that we post lots of mp3's up, but myself and alot of others passionate about some of the modular artists purchase their cd's legitimately.

Nearly 6 million dollars is a fucking lot of money to lose in a year, and according to ITM, it isn't their first year of losses , they apparently lost $1.8 million in 2007 and $2.6 million in 2006. Did daft punk charge too much when modular helped organise nevernever land? Lets hope they have spent lots of money on recording records and they will sell really well and tour lots. Either that or Universal Music being one of their half owners, will not let them continue down this slippery slope.

Maybe they need to kick the shit out of the avalanches and get them to release their sophomore record, then we can all have a sexy party?

Here is a van she tech remix of a pretty classic Utah Saints track. What will van she do if they don't have a label? Join ajax's label haha?

7 comments:

  1. do artists make more money from touring or from record sales?

    i would be more inclined to think touring

    ReplyDelete
  2. I heard the call out fee for the daft mafia was 2 million euros...

    ReplyDelete
  3. 6 million? is thier turnover even that much? fuck me!


    S, i heard an interview with some bands on the J that artists make more money touring these days because of the internet and free downloads..

    Truth is, very few people purchase electronica music unless its mainstream like the presets or whatnot.

    The issue for Modular would seem to me the lack of any financial management. Its hard to aquire information about the management or who runs what part of the business but id say it comes down to some serious mismanagement.

    ReplyDelete
  4. They are half owned by Universal Music, so it would suggest to me that someone in their would know how to manage a record label. I dare say they would have orders at the moment to fix up the company or cut all dead weight, which could mean alot of the smaller artists on the roster.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just because they are owned by Universal doesnt mean that the people running Modular know what they are doing.

    Its hard to get any information on the company because nothing is publicly released about its management or finances so we can only assume that thier costs are way too high for a firm like itself.

    Maybe they should give Pedro of the Bangers crew a call and get some tips

    ReplyDelete
  6. Modular spend huge amounts on PR and publicity. Their whole thing is new media and pop culture which is probably the most expensive market to reach because it requires so much grassroots work with the segment. The other catch with this is that their objectives of awareness for the artists on their label often dont translate to sales.
    I reckon they're struggling by trying to invest in their artists to keep them happy (not leaving for the big labels) while they grow their portfolio of larger acts. I dont think its too uncommon for an independent label to record a loss while they are trying to enhance their profile. Universal is footing half the bill anyway. Universal would have a substantial influence on top management. Modular isn't run by fuckups that had nothing better to do than promote a few mates bands, with influence from a major label, I presume they have some idea of any problems they face

    ReplyDelete
  7. "I reckon they're struggling by trying to invest in their artists to keep them happy (not leaving for the big labels) while they grow their portfolio of larger acts"

    I'm 100% with what you said here Ben.

    With an artist lineup including

    Jack Johnson
    Bumblebeez
    Cut Copy
    Van She
    Bang Gang DJs
    MSTRKRFT
    Wolfmother
    Presets
    Avalanches
    Black Keys
    Muscles
    NYPC
    Klaxons

    Why wouldn't you throw a buttload of money at them to keep them on your label while you are lifting its profile?

    ReplyDelete