It reads like a Major League Baseball contract: 10 years, $120 million, with an $18 million signing bonus. But Madonna isn't tending center field for the Yankees. Instead, she's signing over a share of the profits from all of her future musical projects to concert promoters Live Nation. That includes albums, DVDs, merchandise, fan club, website, TV/film projects, sponsorships, and, of course, touring revenue. Madonna is the first performer to join Live Nation's newly minted Artist Nation division.
"The idea that an iconic artist like Madonna would pick a promoter to be a long-term partner with truly validates our business model," Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino told Billboard.com.
Still, signing a 49 year-old performer to such a long-term deal seems like the equivalent of throwing bucketloads of money at Rickey Henderson (who is, in fact, younger than Madonna). After her 2003 flop American Life, Madonna did bounce back with 2005's Confessions on a Dance Floor, but its singles had trouble making it onto mainstream radio playlists.
So what does this deal mean, other than both sides aim to strike it rich by exploiting the Madonna brand name? Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune says the deal "points the way toward a major-label system that will be even less about innovative music, and even more about innovative marketing." He also speculates that big-time corporations such as Apple and Microsoft might soon join Live Nation and Starbucks in forming record labels.
It's not really the same dynamic as the recent Radiohead / Nine Inch Nails declarations of independence, but the end result of the Madonna-Live Nation pact appears to be the same: the big four record labels (Warner Brothers, Capitol/EMI, Sony-BMG and Universal) should be seriously concerned about their future profit margins.
Related links:
Madonna.com
LiveNation.com
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