----- Original Message ----- From: "Nic" <trickynic@gmail.com>
If it was not for the internet and downloads and so on, in the UK they would be a dead group. Is it the record companies fault? Surely Yello have a say?
If big record companies had their will through, you wouldnt be able to get music on the internet at all. They even view physical online retail as a necessary evil. The music market has shifted seriously in the past few years. I would say, since the mid 90s and since the internet came. Some of the things that have happened, and continue to happen, are; there are 20 times more music coming out now than in the 80s, so major artists have competition and sell less. Independent artists and labels can have a go at selling music. The internet has opened up new channels of distribution but also competition. CDs are not so profitable anymore so why stock them in stores when they can be sold from Amazon and other etailers. People spend less time on music than in the 80s and 90s because of competition from cable and digital TV, games, mobile content, internet stuff such as social networking and news, etc. And people are buying music less from music stores and more from supermarket chains and department stores, because it is convenient. I also think there are psychological factors like people having shorter attention span, being more impatient, following trends more closely, etc. Certainly with the internet, is has become much less interesting for many music fans to follow one or few artists over many years, and jump on the latest trends in stead. Young people are not as loyal as they were in my youth (that's only 10-20 years ago). They consume more than they enjoy it sometimes. All this, and probably other things too, make it harder for artists to sell enough CDs to warrant big synchronized campaigns, get good upfront deals, etc. Yello is fortunate to have a long history and a big core fan base, and also not being dependent on making music to make a living (they were rich before they got famous as artists, at least Dieter). But they will have a problem with gaining new fans, as today's young ones dont see them as relevant or innovative or important. They're just too old for them, like it or not. Greetings from Glenn Folkvord Chief editor http://www.PlanetOrigo.com http://twitter.com/planetorigo Sci-fi movies | Electronic music