As usual, as we count down a handful of weeks towards Christmas and New Year, I find myself sitting in the bedroom, wondering just where the year has gone and finding myself surprised at how quickly it seems to draw to an end. 2005... crazy year... I wouldn't say a bad year although it had more than it's fair share of tragedy through out it. But then, i've always been someone who has felt that these highs and lows keep us on our toes and i'd rather that than the same old uneventful routine many years tend to present. Those years offer you nothing... no feelings... no experiences... no learning... just getting up, going to work, working, getting home, eating dinner, going to bed, paying bills, watching the time just slip away until you get to the end and you're confused about what exactly it was you just went through and concerned as to why you're feeling this numb from it all. Surely amongst all that existence should be some feeling... you would think so, wouldn't you? Not always the case. Which is why years like this year aren't so bad, regardless of the highs and lows they make you feel.
So, what am I proud of? Well... i'm proud of the fact that i'm starting to save money and to get my finances under control. I've always sucked at that, and now I feel that i'm getting somewhere with it, although there is a long way to go. I'm proud of where Ant and I are at - over two years down the track and it feels like I still get something new out of this relationship constantly. I'm glad that I still find myself getting passionate about things, although I still do miss being really involved with them.
What aren't I proud of? Well... my weight definitely needs to be put under the microscope again. I really need to kick my self and exercise more. I'm not proud of the fact that I still don't feel creative enough; I have my half finished texts and keyboards perfectly capable of allowing me to write music, and yet I waste time with things that are so empty and pointless. And while I feel i'm on the right track, I feel the need to push myself more... to find that 'thing' that is me. This isn't to say that the life i'm leading now isn't satisfying, cause it is - and there are elements of it that I wouldn't change for anything... Maybe it is just the human condition to often feel that you still haven't found what you're looking for? I'd be more upset with myself if I gave up looking for that though.
I can't honestly tell you if I feel that i'm on the right track or not, though I have no urge to jump this road i'm on. Perhaps I just accept even more that 'it is what it is', and while I do feel the urge to look behind the couch or under the carpet, I do find myself far more happy to discover contentment with what I have. Life is what it is - we can only control 'it' so much, but we can control our take of it. And so it feels like the new beginning of the past couple of years (post-FMR for want of a better title) is closing and evolving into the next, cause the basis on which whatever next can grow is built on something solid cut from the past few years. Now I feel like i'm rambling, but I hope you can understand.
What you breath in now is life. You can either let it fill your lungs, or choke on it.
NO APPLAUSE OR CROWDS AT FESTIVAL MUSHROOM AS SALE BECOMES A POISONOUS TOADSTOOL
Analysis on the death throes of the disc dinosaur as it's consumed by the behemoth Warner Music.
It doesn't seem like two weeks since the last Loose Cannon unleashed the lawyers from Telstra and I had a hearty laugh with my mate at Mallesons Stephen Jacques. I was surprised not to hear from another set of attorneys who might have claimed that my analysis of Brazin's acquisition of HMV might be compared to the last days of Brashs in some defamatory way.
I love lawyers. I've dealt with so many firms in the past and have a large file of letters, faxes and emailed documents that always begin with "We act for..." and always using the threat of defamation action, costly proceedings, expensive remedies and other painful rectifications to try to beat me into submission. Usually there's a rectum I suggest they stuff these in, but couched in the terminology that 'my learned friends' understand when I hint to them that since I'm acting as my own lawyer, they are free to talk and write to me at great length in billable hours to their clients' accounts, often in six minute increments.
So it was some mirth that I found myself awash in a sea of suits last week at the 25th birthday of the entertainment legal practice of Tress Cox, which I have had a long affiliation with, served as their PR at a couple of points as well as using their talents in some activities of mine. There were lawyers everywhere! All in dark suits. I stood out like a hooker in a convent wearing my trademark Hawaiian shirt. And I had a lot of laughs with litigators and transactional types alike at the state of the industry.
A couple of record company people who were there (and at a subsequent event I attended) thanked me for writing about the peril of too much market share in one company's stores split into three separate business units holding tons of stock and too much credit. I said what they couldn't but it was what they fear as a potential cataclysm as 2006 clocks in.
Then across the crowd of dark suits stood a head of gray in an elegant shiny suit who I instantly recognised as Warner Music's Chairman Ed St John, which the firm of TressCox acts for. That's Warner, not Ed and I should note here that I'm not about to test TressCox's conflict of interest policies by saying anything nasty.
Ed and I have been civil the past few times we've met. Though we were at loggerheads at one point when he was at BMG, when he went over the Warner, I thought it was fair to give him time to make changes at that company. After all, when he was at BMG, he had to deal with Idol which the company held the franchise for and since I was not a fan of Idol, I think he took my comments to heart. But whatever the case, when we last met, I assumed that the hatchet was kinda buried and we were not unpleasant with each other. In fact, Warner has advertised twice in the Music Industry Directory since and we've not had a cross word. And truth be told, Ed's done a pretty good job stabilising the Warner scenario. He even hired back Michael Parisi from FMR which presaged the purchase.
So when we crossed paths at TressCox, there was no need to say anything about Warner's purchase of the 53 year old faded Festival Mushroom Records. No need to ask how much was paid for the mortuary for music that FMR had become since the days that Roger Grierson had hoisted the Jolly Roger flag on the Pyrmont premises vowing to turn the sinking ship into an oil tanker. But the truth be known, the whole thing tanked.
Roger split, vowing to write a book (not about Festival) and then trying to sell interests in The Railway Club--kinda like time shares in a Groucho Club for Sydney. Parisi didn't get his contract renewed in the time that he wanted and made a smart move to the top end of town when Murdoch's mob didn't deliver an appropriate offer. Other execs bailed out and those who were still employed there clung on like grim death. And a swarm of accountants acting for everyone from majors to minors picked over the zombie of FMR and tried to give it a value before it turned into a corpse.
So for the past several months, one of the worst kept secrets of the music industry was the FMR was for sale. And after having spoken with the forensic team working on the hoped for resurrection of the company, it turns out the general consensus of it's value was about $5-8 million. That's for the record company. As for the publishing, which was not a part of the deal to Warner, it's worth maybe a million.
Warner has not yet announced the sale price but will have to disclose it in the US when they file paper on their public company's assets and liabilities. And let me tell you, FMR has turned into a definite liability even though it has some long running copyrights as assets. I figure $6 mill was the price.
It reminds me of a colourful comparison that Roger Grierson made once in an interview when he said, "It doesn't matter if you call it the 'Turd Du Jour', it's still a shit sandwich no matter which way you cut it.
One could argue that through a succession of stars and management Festival had been built up since its inception in 1952 into something approaching fillet steak in the 80s. It had an incredible array of overseas label licenses, had supported Mushroom Records through its trials and tribulation as well as profiting from its wins, eventually buying it under the Murdoch regime. So when Roger took over as MD from a role as band manager, indie label guy, through to Polygram Publishing head, it seemed the future was so bright, he'd need sunglasses.
It also appeared that Festival was being made into foie gras pate by stuffing it like a goose, force feeding it a huge number of high profile and high maintenance executives--numbering among them Jeremy Fabinyi, Warren Fahey, Ken Outch, Paul Dickson, Michael Golden. It was heady times. And of course Roger jetting to London and around the world maintaining the Murdoch clan's recording interests cut a dashing figure in his suit as he predicted a rosy future.
FMR couldn't seem to get anything right. A reported $40 million plus purchase of the last half of Mushroom Records without the publishing (at least Murdoch learned that lesson!) turned out to be one of the worst buys at the worst time. Changing distributors, become their own distributor, partnering distribution... nothing worked. A feeble attempt at online commerce turned out to be a dot-com dog. They never caught the digital download trend. The overseas labels were dropped. Acts that were signed up with great fanfare disappeared in hushed tones. The studio was closed. Manufacturing ceased. Marketing was outsourced. The building was sold. Still, there were some great people clinging onto the lifeboat as the good ship FMR started to list. Meanwhile, Elvis left the building.
Now in today's Drum Media, industry writer Christie Eliezer writes of what seems to be the fate of the faithful. "Axe Swings At FMR" The axe swung at Festival Mushroom Records last week. Exact figures were kept on the hush, but sources tell us only eight of its 90 staffers--four each from Sydney and Melbourne--look set to make the trek to the label's new home at Warner Music at this stage."
Some would use the analogy that they were made to walk the plank. Actually, it's just the results, again, of mergers and acquisitions in the industry controlled by accountants instead of creative people. The artists that will be dropped and the staff that lose their jobs just before Christmas are merely the victims of progress.
Aussie music icon gone - and no one cares Bernard Zuel November 9, 2005 01:30 PM
The most telling thing about the news that Festival Mushroom Records, once the local powerhouse in a world of international conglomerates, has been bought by one of those conglomerates, Warner, was not how little it cost, reportedly around $6 million. No, it was how little attention it received. No one cared.
Thirty years ago Festival was the home of Australian music, recording most of the big local stars, releasing (on licence) many of the overseas stars.
In the early days Festival had our greatest artists in its stable including Johnny O'Keefe, Olivia Newton John, Peter Allen, Rolf Harris, The BeeGees and Col Joye. Its partnership (and eventual merger) with Mushroom brought on board modern day greats such as Paul Kelly, Split Enz, Kylie Minogue and Jimmy Barnes.
In recent years, however, the hits dried up. Last year, like pretty much every year for more than a decade, it had no significant presence on the charts, on the radio or in our minds.
Bad decisions, bad signings and bad luck all played their part.
When it came time to put the label down it was a mercy killing but there was no need to hide it; no one was watching anyway.
Comments
I disagree Bernard. Someone cared. The employees who stuck around until the very end did so certainly not because the pay was great or the conditions were fantastic but because of the music. It sounds like a tired old cliche, but the artists who trusted their music to the company should know that someone was working on their behalf. Yes there were some dodgy signings, some bands buried, mistakes all around... the two saddest parts from my perspective. Some of Australia's most talented musicians are about to be swallowed by the machine and some of the music industry's most dedicated workers are out of a job just before Christmas.
Posted by: formerFMR at November 9, 2005 09:39 PM
And how right you are Bernard!
Posted by: spikey at November 9, 2005 07:42 PM
I, too, am an expatriate Sydney-sider, but I also am an ex-Festival employee. I am am both amazed and ashamed that the sale of Australia's music industry icon has gone unnoticed - particularly in the Business sections of major newspapers.
Several months ago, the Wall Street Journal ran an article stating that the most valuable traded commodity in the 21st Century was Intellectual Property. Festival Records and its subsidiary, Festival Music, own the crown jewels of Australia's music heritage, and for it to be sold at such a small multiple of its earnings is a national tragedy.
Shame on News Corp for selling out so easily; shame on Grierson for devaluing the company and bailing before the eventual happened; and shame on Australian media for letting this monumental event go past with barely a mention.
I worked at Festival during a time when there was pride in everything the company undertook, and that was prior to and shortly after the News Corp buyout. Things were really humming at the company at that time, and it was largely profitable.
I blame the lack of leadership that came into the company in those subsequent years, as well as the foresight of the corporate owners to see the value of IP on a world basis.
For the past 40 years, Australia has given a great deal to the music industry worldwide from the Bee Gees, Olivia Newton John, Helen Reddy and Peter Allen to The Divinyls, INXS, Midnight Oil, Savage Garden and Jet, not to mention the biggest selling Australian act of all time - AC/DC.
The decision to sell this vault of irreplaceable IP and cultural heritage is a travesty to the nation and another blemish on News Corp's record (pardon the pun!).
I, for one, am ashamed at the lack of National Pride these corporate decisions a bereft of.
Posted by: Newscorpsucks at November 9, 2005 07:04 PM
As an overseas Australian expat I have become a little detached from Oz music. I looked at the charts today for the first time in a while and to my surprise I saw a significant amount of Australian content. Fantastic I say. For all the geniuses news corp and Roger G pushed into that building I fail to understand how they missed the wave that they were charged with catching. A lot of good people went through that building since the Greirson experiment started back in 1997. There was a time when people seemed to care, I recall an article in Good Weekend back in 2001 criticising the progress at Festival and quite accurately predicting friggin in the riggin of the good ship Ultimo to which Roger G replied to quite publicly, accusing the writer of being a disgruntled employee's boyfriend.
It struck me as strange that although the Murdochs had plenty of indications that their likely 100 million dollar investment was going pearshaped no action was taken to rectify the slide. Perhaps it was all about the real estate, perhaps there was something about Roger and the Murdoch connection?. I guess we will never know?..but who cares, the other majors and independents in Australia seem to have done what Festival should have done and all is well on the Australian music front.
Posted by: globalroam at November 9, 2005 02:50 PM
Anyone who knows me knows my feelings towards FMR.
Despite my parting with the company in 2003, I have always held a passion and love for my time at FMR. And not just for the music, but for the many fantastic people with whom I worked with. They're people that worked there because of their passion for music, cause God knows NO ONE works in the music industry for the money (and no, this is not me being sarcastic. The truth is, it is very underpaid).
But the four and a half years I spent at FMR were probably four and a half of the best years of my life. To see this chapter in it's existence, and the highly questionable future that lay ahead... it's saddening.
For the record, despite what this article would suggest, FMR achieved more #1 albums and singles in 2001 than any other company in Australia. For a while there, it seemed to be working... but it never seemed to gel long enough.
It was a great company, with great people, and great music. Despite the mistakes and the misguidance, all I can say is "it was great".
