From Side-Line:
Toast Hawaii, the record label of Depeche Mode member Andrew Fletcher, has lost its only band, Client. The news was already known for a while in smaller circles but has now been confirmed by Kate Holmes to Side-Line: “It was a mutual decision as Andy was touring with DM for most of 2005-6 and we didn’t want to stop client and wait. We also became disillusioned with the way Mute got swallowed up by EMI. We still see Andy though as he lives round the corner from us. Maybe he will come on tour with us next.” The band has just finished their new album – provisionally called “Heartland” and mainly produced by Youth. The band is now looking for a release somewhere in 2007. At the moment the band has 4 licensing deals which are about to be signed for Europe, Central and North America. The band expects to be making an announcement on their website pretty soon. So what can you expect from “Heartland”, the 3rd Client album? Kate: “It is our best material yet and Youth has injected a New Order/NIN edge to the tracks. We also bring back the guitar for this album!”
Whether or not you know of Client is immaterial.
How many established musicians start up their own record labels or imprints of larger labels? How many of them continue and succeed?
Madonna’s Maverick Records imprint was doing quite well, actually. After all, it spawned Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill. But the Material Girl bowed out in 2004 thanks to some anger with the mothership. You’ve got Aftermath, Death Row, and Bad Boy still afloat, although it could be argued that the latter two were created before the musicians were truly successful.
But while the Beastie Boys ran a respectable label with Grand Royal, debt killed it in 2001. Biv 10 (Michael Bivins of Bel Biv DeVoe), Crave (Mariah Carey), and Beat Club (Timbaland), all suffered either similar fates or never even got off of the ground.
So why do artists continue to do this? It’s a far shot for a musician to even get signed, much less become successful. After winning that game of chance, they now want to take another tremendously huge shot in the dark and open a label? Evidence shows that it doesn’t matter that a big name is backing the company; it’s going to sink or swim dependent upon the acts it acquires, the strength of its promotion, and a whole pile of good luck. There’s a better chance of opening a restaurant and having it turn a profit.
In the end, we have Andy Fletcher with his best intentions looking to run a label to house whatever acts he felt the need to back. But like so many before him, he probably didn’t realize that it’s a full time job and his name alone isn’t going to make it work. And so, another one bites the dust. Farewell, Toast Hawaii, we hardly knew ye. Although actually, there was never a ye to know.
