Mariah Carey, Robbie Williams Shun Record Label Biz Model

Some time ago, Mariah Carey, of all pop stars, remarked incisively about how it's no longer enough for musicians to record songs. Now they have to establish themselves as businesses. It then makes sense that Robbie Williams, who's currently riding the high of a well-tailored comeback, is looking to branch out similarly. With his current four-album record deal with EMI coming to a close, Williams is looking to sidestep record label bosses and establish himself as a self-governing musical entity for the next phase of his career. This way, investors -- maybe including financial institutions -- would his production costs on the promise of a 50% return on all profits. It's another advance that hacks away overgrown weeds of an industry still gasping to keep up with the predominantly digital tendencies of music fans. It also makes them the latest in a growing line of self-employed pop stars increasingly fed up with record label cock-ups.

Williams’ model would sell half the rights to any future album, touring, and sponsorship deals and is valued at over $80 million. Williams hasn’t entirely ruled out another deal with a label, but he’s leaning heavily towards this alternative model. Back in 1997, David Bowie embarked on a similar strategy with Bowie Bonds, which were securities of revenues generated from the sales of Bowie’s back catalog prior to 1990. Around that same time, Prince emerged with his own solutions. Alternative strategies have also been employed by Radiohead.

Carey, however, hasn’t tapped into investors or financial institutions directly, opting instead to hammer out deals with brands that would also help to sustain her image and brand. Like that Mariah-ized issue of Elle that came with her latest album. That booklet also featured ads by Elizabeth Arden, the company that distributes her fragrance. But perhaps Carey said it best when she told The Times, “A lot of big powerful music-industry executives made a giant mistake. They gave the music business away on the internet. If they had just sat back and said, ‘Maybe let’s figure this internet thing out, it could be something cool,’ we could have found a way to distribute music online on our own terms, not somebody else’s. Prince had already shown them the way. He was so far ahead of the curve, putting out his own records on the web. Everyone else was stupid.”