Colin Lester Appears on the ‘Duty of Care’ Panel at ITC
October 21, 2009
By Ben Cardew – Music Week
Columbia managing director Mike Smith told the In The City crowd yesterday that he believes the transition to digital sales has led to better music and better A&Ring.
Smith, who took part in a popular closing panel yesterday alongside Mark Ronson and author John Harris, was asked about his role in A&Ring Ronson’s Versions album after he moved to Columbia from EMI Publishing.
His reply touched on the importance of packing albums with hits, now that consumers can cherry pick single tracks.
“These days you have got to have three or four big songs on a record,” he said. “That is a change that is really forcing A&R men to be A&R men. You can’t just put out a song for your fanbase. That isn’t enough to have hit singles.”
Ronson them proclaimed himself to be a “fan of” the album, leading Harris to question whether they were saddened by the “inevitable slide” into a track-based model.
Smith replied, “I feel that music is potentially getting better because you have to make better albums. I am not convinced there will be a track-based market. I think musicians want to put out a body of work.”
Earlier in the day former Island md Marc Marot and former Island A&R David Gilmour locked horns with CLM’s Colin Lester over the possibility of creating a music industry fund to help out struggling musicians with addiction problems.
Gilmour and Marot argued in favour of a scheme – the likes of which already exists in the US – but Lester argued the move was akin to starting a charity. Lester said, “That is what you are talking about. I would be happy to pay for a charity. But if you are asking the industry to back it, I would rather the industry backs education about copyright.”
Comments
Got something to say?