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http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article3168528.eceRobbie Williams issues call to arms in protest at EMI 'bean counters'
Adam Sherwin, Media Correspondent
Robbie Williams is going on strike in protest at the private equity firm that has taken over his record company, as other stars down tools in an artists’ revolt.
Williams, who has sold 70 million records for EMI, is leading a number of stars refusing to work for the company since its £3.2 billion takeover by Terra Firma, the financier. He is withholding the next album in his £80 million deal from EMI and his manager said Guy Hands, the new boss of EMI, was behaving like a “plantation owner”.
Coldplay, one of EMI’s few US chart-toppers, are also prepared to withdraw their labour. Their manager said that the band was considering its options after EMI’s head of music left this week, with thousands more redundancies expected.
Radiohead and Sir Paul McCartney have already walked out on EMI, which has cut advance payments to stars and told artists to work harder at promoting their music. EMI’s share of the British album market, already damaged by downloading, fell from 16 per cent to 9 per cent last year.
The US screenwriters’ strike, which brought Hollywood to a halt, has influenced pop stars, who believe that they can use their muscle to wrest control from the “bean-counters”.
A new Williams album, due for September release, should be a huge earner for EMI. But Tim Clark, Williams’s manager, told The Times: “The question is, ‘Should Robbie deliver the new album he is due to release to EMI?’ We have to say the answer is ‘No’. We have no idea how EMI will market and promote the album. They do not have anyone in the digital sphere capable of doing the job required. All we know is they are going to decimate their staff.”
Mr Clark discussed Williams’s future with Mr Hands, but said the financier was acting like a “plantation owner” who had stumbled into the record industry via a “vanity purchase”.
Williams, 33, who is recording with the hit producer Mark Ronson, wants to follow Radiohead’s example and release new music directly to fans through his website. Lucrative mobile deals with T-Mobile and Sony Ericsson are on the table.
He is seeking control over his back catalogue from EMI, the issue that prompted Radiohead’s departure, and a greater return on digital distribution of his music.
Mr Clark said: “EMI can sue or pay up his contract. Robbie needs to know what services EMI can provide to an artist of his standing.”
The 30-million album selling Coldplay, currently recording new material with Brian Eno, are upset at the departure of Tony Wadsworth, head of EMI’s UK music division. Dave Holmes, the band’s Los Angeles-based manager, told The Times: “Tony was the reason a lot of bands signed to EMI. Artists want to work with music people, not finance guys.”
He added: “Why would you want to release an album with a record company in the midst of massive lay-offs? Coldplay have a lot of options. They are in no hurry to deliver their new album.”
Mr Hands is keen to retain Williams. The £80 million deal signed in 2002 gives EMI a share of Williams’s substantial live and merchandise earnings. The deal protects the company from a downturn in his CD sales.
Yet Williams is holding firm. He said: “I might just put the B-sides to the next album out first online. Then put an album out in 2009. There definitely won’t be a tour any time soon.” Chris Morrison, manager of Damon Albarn, the Blur and Gorillaz star signed to EMI, said that artists did not want record companies to take a chunk of their live earnings.
Mr Morrison said: “Artists should have the freedom to make their own choices over concerts.” EMI sources said: “Many artists have raised fundamental questions about the record business in the digital age. EMI is working on a restructuring of its recorded music division to address the needs of artists in what is a very different market from the 1990s.”
Sour notes
1994 George Michael fails to persuade a court that his Sony recording deal is “contractual slavery”. Resigns to Sony years after losing £4 million battle
1993 Prince stamped the word “slave” on his cheek and changed his name to a symbol in a battle with Warner Bros for artistic and financial control
1991 The Stone Roses pour paint over the offices of Silvertone Records as a £1 million move to Geffen is delayed three years by a legal dispute
1987 Geffen sues Neil Young for $3 million after he delivers Transformer, a flop synth-rock album. The writ claims that he was deliberately making music “unrepresentative of Neil Young”
1978 Graham Parker attacks Mercury Records in the song Mercury Poisoning. It contains the lines: “Their geriatric staff thinks we’re freaks. They couldn’t sell kebabs to the Greeks”
1977 EMI fires the Sex Pistols, citing “adverse publicity”. The group kept a £40,000 advance and paid musical tribute: “E.M.I., Unlimited edition with an unlimited supply”
Source: Times database
