Imogen Heap bids £2m for her own album on eBay
There’s an interesting scenario unfolding over at eBay. A record seller listed a DJ pre-release copy of Imogen Heap’s forthcoming ‘Ellipse’ album, with an unopened seal. Large record labels often make a few hundred copies of upcoming albums to distrubute to DJs and journalists, giving them time to preview the album and build excitement. It’s often supplied with a ‘seal’ with the name of the recipient on it, along with a warning that it is traceable back to him/her, to stop people trying to cash in on it. This album was sent to one James *ooter, a writer for Da**cer (this is all you can see from the photo but the rest is not hard to work out.)
But someone brought this item to Imogen’s attention, and in the early hours of this morning she flagged the violation to eBay, meanwhile creating her own eBay account so she could bid for the album herself. Ironically eBay initially wouldn’t verify Imogen’s credit card! But once they did she placed a maximum bid of £2,000,000. The bidding is at £1,550 right now but It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
For as long as I’ve been in the music business (30+ years) I’ve seen DJ copies of my own music showing up in bargain bins and record collectors’ stalls. I remember around 1980 that Columbia in New York used to have an open drinks party every Friday for DJs where they would play new releases and the DJs could leave with an armful of 12″s. Later on the same day the DJs, all friends, met up again at a record shop on 8th street where they would turn around and sell the 12″s, netting perhaps $200 each. The cost of these pressings, and the party, and the salary of the label’s independent promotions people, are all deducted from the artist’s royalty statement before any royalties are payable. So instead of coming out of the label’s ~80% share of the revenue from record sales, ‘marketing’ expenses like this came out of the artist’s ~12% share. Along with satin tour jackets, bar bills at top night clubs, and in some cases, the marina fees for some radio programmer’s speedboat.
It’s not just the artist that suffers: it’s also the general public, because the Industry has been run so inefficiently that record and CD costs are unnaturally high, while many good artists never get signed or promoted. In a way it was in the Industry’s interest to keep it that way, because it made more manageable and predictable a business that is actually based on the magic of music, and the chaotic nature of the public’s musical tastes.
Personally I dislike many music journalists because they are lazy, ignorant, prejudiced, and elitist; cowards who give the artist no opportunity for recourse, and often not great at spelling and grammar. (There are exceptions of of course!) But whatever you think of the average professional music critic, you can’t condone one who also cynically lines his own pocket at the artist’s expense, not even bothering to break the seal and listen to the album. In so doing he perpetuates the same stagnant and corrupt system that has existed for decades, and which is only finally starting to break down now that the big record companies are not the only game in town.
Members of Parliament are resigning left right and centre because they fiddled a few quid on their expenses. IMO if this journalist James *ooter is selling stolen property on eBay, of via a ‘fence’, he should not be allowed to keep his job, or ever to work again as a professional writer.
Well said!
The auction did reach mad proportions when it hit £10m! Rather amused the seller has not taken the hint and has chosen to relist it.
Interest story Thomas.
There’s a lot of truth in what you say about music journalists. I remember a classical concert I went to just before Easter where a review appeared of which all but one sentence had clearly been written prior to her having attending it. Doubtless the other sentence had been texted in.
Of course, as a music blogger myself, I’m somewhat biased in saying this, but most of the best music writing I read these days is done by bloggers or other amateurs (who often a more rigourous and insightful than the professionals).
Completely agree!
Think you might have the publication name wrong though, I see “Da..” on one side and “..ar” on the other side. I wonder if this means it is one of the UK red-tops?
Hope this ends well and in the right way.
yes, I was one of the ones that bid on it and got it up to 9 million pounds, he’s gone and canceled all the bids but I hope the auction gets shut down for Imogens sake
update from ebay:
This listing (190318837162) has been removed or is no longer available. Please make sure you entered the right item number. If the listing was removed by eBay, consider it cancelled. Note: Listings that have ended more than 90 days ago will no longer appear on eBay.
our friend, super-composer/guitarist, pat metheny saw a rack of metheny bootlegs in a japan store, picked them all up, took them outside, smashed them and threw them in a trash can.
didn’t get arrested – can’t steal from yourself!
he, however, doesn’t mind folks trading his live or radio stuff, as long as money doesn’t change hands.
Quite a s**t storm kicking off about this now. Take a look at the comments here…
http://stereokill.net/2009/07/05/imogen-heap-in-10m-bid-for-her-own-record/#
Promo items may be sold without impediment in the US, and that includes promo CDs and Advance Reading Copies (ARCs) of upcoming books. These arguments come up now and then (usually in the form of an ebay store selling retail CDs complaining that another ebay store is selling promo CDs for less than what they can sell their retail CDs at), but ebay always determines that these promos may be freely bought and sold, like any other property. But that’s the US, where capitalism trumps everything.
Perhaps different rulings have banned the sale of advance CDs in the UK? If the UK allows the sale of these as the US does, then the root of the problem needs to be addressed: the record companies need to stop sending out so many review copies, or they need to come up with an entirely different way to get review copies into reviewers’ ears.
It is vital, in particular, that advance copies not wind up torrented on the internet, where they may tempt even the fans that plan to buy the albums on the release date.
I appreciate the steam that drives the call for the writer to be removed from his job, but we have no way of knowing if his job contract says he or she is not allowed to resell the promos he or she receives. For all we know, it may be considered one of the perks of the job, and is something he’s free to do. (That’s assuming that the “property of the record company” claim printed on some promos has been ruled to be bunk in the UK, as it has in the US.)
I’m sorry that my first blog entry here is a sort of counter point to the original argument. I just think that you cannot call for something to be stopped unless there is precedent supporting that demand. And I most sincerely agree with the outrage that the record companies put the production and distribution of promos on the artists’ tab. That is an outrage.
Here’s the most recent court case about promo CDs on ebay:
http://www.eff.org/cases/umg-v-augusto
I wonder if the appeal has happened yet? Searching now…
I agree with your low opinion of most music journalists. As a minor writer (freelanced for Rolling Stone online, Musichound record guide series, Sony Warner, etc…) in the 90s, I found most of my peers to be terrible writers, lazy, and parasitic. Most were not performing musicians (I was.) Possessing big mouths in print, most were sniveling wimps face to face and looked like they spent more time in their parents’ basement than anything else.
That being said, I’d like to stick up for the few of us who were not weasels. Most musicians enjoyed speaking with me, probably because I knew about the people I interviewed, cared about their music and didn’t ‘seduce’ them during the interview process only to betray them in print. I did get promos frequently but requested far less than anyone else I knew. I have never downloaded anything for free and I still buy cds (your reissues are on order. I wait patiently.)
I stopped writing for several reasons, not the least of which was a need for more income and a lack of interest in much of what was happening on the rock/indie scene in the 90s. I’m a licensed psychotherapist now, if you can believe it.
Frank Zappa said “Music journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read.”
Whilst I acknowledge that there are a lot of miserable, cynical and money-grabbing music journalists out there, I find the generalisations you’ve just made as hurtful as the comments that you received about the mastering on TSTD.
I know they weren’t directed at me – but they were directed at my kind, and I feel forced to retort from my own perspective.
Personally, music is my passion, my life, my hobby, my career – and my life is dedicated to outlets for being able to say “Hey! Listen to this! It’s Excellent!”. No alterior motives here. When I first contacted you for an interview, it was because I was passionate about your music and I hope that my passion was reflected in my output.
In addition, I might add that, whilst I entirely agree that selling pre-release promos is not something I personally practice or condone, for a lot of people who are paid peanuts for their articles (especially with the advent of the internet – and particularly blogging – making paid music journalism work harder and harder to come by) selling promos is the only way that some journalists can make ends meet. Legally, it’s a grey area that varies from country to country. But I’m yet to meet an editor who doesn’t suggest it as an income stream to their writers.
Myself, I would rather take pride in a beautiful, extensive record collection. Heck, everything I receive goes straight onto iTunes, and I still keep the discs.
More and more companies are switching to online promo previews – listening parties, mp3s and streams. This is great for the musician and the record company, but for journalists who are just starting out, their freebies may be the only thing they have to show for it. I certainly don’t think they should be exploiting them or profiteering them, but it is becoming harder and harder for smaller publications to attract budding young writers – anything smaller than the Rolling Stones and such of this world don’t pay, and now they can’t even offer freebies, then most budding journalists give up and use their spare time to get a bar job or some such. We’re in a recession and very few people can afford to intern.
So that’s my retort. I agree that this whole sorry business with Imogen’s album is disgraceful, but please let this serve as a reminder – I gave up a very well paid job in middle management to serve my love, my passion and my joy – for a fraction of the money. There are plenty of hacks out there who are “lazy, ignorant, prejudiced, and elitist; cowards who give the artist no opportunity for recourse”… but I hope I can reassure you that, whilst I can’t vouch for the thousands of others, your faith in our breed might be reassured by knowing that I am not one of them – I love all music. I love all genres. I love all musicians and I’ve never interviewed someone that I didn’t feel an affinity and understanding with – even the ones that made it very clear at the start of the interview that they didn’t like my kind.
Thomas, you know (because I’ve told you!) that the respect for you I have is huge. Your music and your achievements, and (despite the warning never to meet your idols) I found you a lovely guy to interview. I’m really sorry you’ve been stung by some ignorant comments this week, but I want to reassure you that we’re not all bad people.
Opportunity for recourse now!
Kind Regards,
SSC