Morrissey on Mute?

[Maverick]

In light of a comment made on another thread that Mozzer may not land another major record deal if YOR's sales aren't up to snuff, i ask this - why doesn't he sign up to Mute?

They seem the perfect label for him. Still small enough to be independent, but a major player as well, with a quality list of artists - Nick Cave, Depeche Mode & Erasure to name but 3.

Mozzer & Mute seem perfectly suited to me. They'd give him good exposure & could soak up the poor sales of his forthcoming albums, because we all know the writing is on the wall - 2004 will never happen again.

 

[Worm]

In light of a comment made on another thread that Mozzer may not land another major record deal if YOR's sales aren't up to snuff, i ask this - why doesn't he sign up to Mute?

They seem the perfect label for him. Still small enough to be independent, but a major player as well, with a quality list of artists - Nick Cave, Depeche Mode & Erasure to name but 3.

Mozzer & Mute seem perfectly suited to me. They'd give him good exposure & could soak up the poor sales of his forthcoming albums, because we all know the writing is on the wall - 2004 will never happen again.

Sales figures aren't necessarily that easy to interpret. An artist who sells around 100,000 copies of an album might seem a disappointment but we don't know how much money went into recording the album, marketing it, etc. In the movie industry, for example, a movie can make $200 million and barely turn a profit while a tiny film can make $5 million and pay back the investors a hundred-fold.

In Morrissey's case what may matter more than having another breakout album like YATQ is the more or less guaranteed sales figures he has thanks to a passionate fan base. If you're a label boss and you know Morrissey will make you, say five million dollars/pounds, who cares if it's not a big hit? And why not roll the dice and hope for a surprise? There's very little downside. If YOR sells about as well as ROTT, it shows that 2004 may not happen again, but on the other hand it shows that there's probably a baseline minimum sales figure he'll draw.

Of course, my theory would be wrong if the label is barely recouping its costs. But my guess is that Morrissey may keep the costs down on his records (particularly the advances he gets) in order to make up the money by touring. I'll bet he will make a lot of money touring off of YOR.