Rolling Stones Shine A Light, lick EMI :: Music News :: Articles

Sometimes, 40 Licks just isn't enough.

But fear not. With a catalogue of nearly that many albums, the Rolling Stones understand. The legendary (read: "sexagenarian") rockers have prepared yet another one, this time in the form of the soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese live-performance film Shine A Light. However, the March record, their first since 2005's A Bigger Bang, isn't being put out by EMI/Virgin, the Stones' label of 16 years. Universal Music Group will take EMI's place in the Stones' hearts with a one-album deal.

Of course, Mick, Keith & Co. aren't the only high-profile acts to leap from the sinking ship that's been EMI of late. Radiohead and Paul McCartney have moved to other recording ventures following EMI's announcement of "elimination of significant duplications within the group to simplify processes and reduce waste" - in other words, the layoff of 2,000 employees.

The Stones' move, whether temporary or not, is taking place during this, their 46th year in music. It raises questions. (Significant ones, and not the first questions this collection of frighteningly wiry gentlemen has inspired...). Will their previous label, EMI/Virgin, still claiming ties to the Stones, continue putting out the Stones' post-1971 material (a catalogue of 14 studio albums)? Jagger and the guys own the rights to all their post-'71 material, while Universal already owns their stuff from '63-'70.

Whatever the answers, this latest release caps off a discography that would make most musicians cover their faces in shame or pass out from exhaustion. They've reached audiences of every demographic, even, as Paste reported in August, infants. No one has a wider reach or skinnier jeans, and no label can mess with that.

Shine A Light, originally slated to come out in March, hits theaters and IMAX on April 4, and chronicles a New York Stones performance in 2006 featuring guest stars Christina Aguilera, Buddy Guy and Jack White.

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