Rebranding an artist to make $$$- real life example of artists signed to Interscope.

[God]

I posted this somewhere else, but realized I didn't label this properly for Industry Talk...

Cherry Tree/Interscope signed a girl "Chantelle Paige" to their roster. They had a "has-been" band that was probably going to get dropped from the roster known as "Flipsyde" laying around.

So what does a smart exec say... hmmm - let's make this into a new "Black Eyed Peas."

And when I say "Black Eyed Peas" I mean the pop-friendly "Fergie" BEP. Not the cool underground group I used to dig.

So, how do you cross-pollinate within your roster to create a major label's dream (another BEP.)

Hire Master Chef Akon/Akon's ghost producers to produce all tracks.

Take one part smokin' hot blonde chick that can kinda sing: Chantelle Paige.

Take three parts pseudo hip-hop "has-been" group on your roster: Flipsyde.

Add together to create pop friendly rap in the style of Black Eyed Peas with hot chick (a la Fergie) singing the choruses. BRILLIANT idea from a moneymaking perspective. Good usage of a band about to get dropped and a girl that can't really stand on her own in this market - yet. The songs they recorded together are not on the Soundmgt. site. Those are songs from Flipsyde's previous album (which kinda sucks.)

Look at this photo, and I saw immediately what they were doing: http://www.soundmgt.com/artists/Flipsyde/

Chantelle Paige: http://www.myspace.com/chantellepaige
Flipsyde: http://www.myspace.com/flipsyde

Props to Cherry Tree for basically salvaging one contract and increasing exposure on another.

The evil industry is at it again - trying to print money while they still can.

 

[classic]

God , how often do you see this happen, is this a common thing when and indivual group and doing well or is it just in select cirmstances..... (by the way that white chick dident fit in at all it just look at the pic)

 

[skidflow]

I Wont Be The One Supporting This Movement. I Only Purchase Music That I Can "feel". I Even Look At The Photos Of These People And There Is Nothing I See That I Can Relate To. They Look Like More Of A "no Doubt" Than "black-eyed Peas" But They Sound Like Black -eyed Peas...and Why Would Anyone Want To Hear Another Version Of That Sell-out Group? But You Will Always Have The White Chicks That Will Buy This Shit...but On The Real, Anything Will Sell If You Play That Shit On Mainstream Radio 50 Times A Day.

 

[Ash Holmz]

that girl is about as white and blonde and "pop" as they come ... i dont think they are in same league as the black eyed peas .. same concept but fergie could outsing that chick with strep throat... plus fergie got hips and ass and that girl is built like an ironing board lol .... but whatever works i guess. i can see why that flipside band wasnt doing too well ... they got some boring songs on their page .. even for that genre they sound boring.

 

[God]

I remember a friend asking me what I thought about Chantelle Paige two years ago. Let's just say the dude was involved in her camp (no names). I told him that she had the “right look”, but the songs sucked. Her vocals weren't spectacular. So, in the way that Christina Aguilera or a girl with actual pipes would instantly make you believe “she has 'it' ”, Chantelle was just another hot LA chick wanting to be famous with a ton of financial backing (the ultimate difference.) But there are a ton of hot California girls (usually from the OC) whose daddies are rich and bankroll their kids' dreams because they can. I don't think the dude is involved with her camp anymore, but if Chantelle had the pipes, I GUARANTEE she would have been signed as a solo-artist almost immediately.

She was signed (in my opinion) though - because she a good management and marketing team behind her, and got had money to burn in order to get “in” with the right cats. Cherry Tree is kind of the “B-team” of Interscope, where they try to get maximum coin on acts by marketing them in different global markets (like Tokio Hotel in Europe.) I don't know enough about the contract with Flipsyde or Chantelle, but I bet someone at Cherry Tree said – “I'm about to lose on an act (Flipsyde) and Chantelle can't hold her own in this market, because its saturated with Fergie, Gwen Stefani, Miley Cyrus wannabes and R&B/pop singers that can actually sing. AND I have a limited budget – so let's maximize on these two artists...”

The Black Eyed Peas weren't selling well, then Fergie got introduced to the group- and well, the rest is history.

So to answer your question, if a group is NOT doing well, and the label thinks something is a fit, they will force it. Why would they force it? Because the act lost any negotiating power w/the label because the act didn't sell. In the case of Flipsyde – they proved that they aren't profitable with lackluster album sales. In the case of Chantelle, she is still trying to prove herself. The perfect time to save one act's contract and grow another artist.

If you sell, you get away with a LOT of bullshit. If you DON'T sell, you better be ready to do whatever the label tells you to do.

The fact that Chantelle got signed to Cherry Tree and was ultimately paired to be a member of “Flipsyde” is indicative (in my opinion) that A LOT of labels may have passed on her because of the reasons I mentioned at the beginning of this post. She has the right pipes to be a Fergie-type chorus girl for the band. She doesn't have the pipes to be a Christina Aguilera. She might have been able to pull a Rihanna – really hot chick that can't sing auto-tuned to “pitch correction time: fastest, pitch tracking: fastest” but Cherry Tree doesn't have the budget that Def Jam (i.e. JayZ) had to invest in Rihanna. In fact, Cherry Tree is SAVING money by having two signed acts merge into one act, and then have one producer essentially fulfill requirements for BOTH acts' contracts. So, only one album, with ONE budget gets released. The label is killing two birds with one stone, and might be making a good gamble by creating a whole “new BEP” type thing.

Also, if Interscope knows what's good - they will have a stylist come in and coordinate the group's "look."

This was a good business solution for both Flipsyde and Chantelle. If they fail – Flipsyde is gone. Chantelle might be screwed too – maybe she can fall back on acting or something. The thing is that Interscope is really good at pairing up people – with the exception of Game and 50 Cent's fallout.

Who really wins? The producer i.e. Akon's team. They get paid up-front and get points on the record. I think Akon's boy-wonder producer with the lame name: “Colby O'Donis” is doing the tracks. Timbaland has Danjahandz, Akon has this Colby dude. Dre had Storch.

Time to get your songwriting chops up, producers. You're where the money is. Just remember who you're writing for - this type of music is not marketed towards sophisticated listeners like us-- they're marketed to your 15 year old sister.

Oh, and I think both acts, Chantelle Paige and Flipsyde, aren't very good. But with the right producer....

 

[Ash Holmz]

great insight !... i knew there was something funny about the chantelle chick .. she just not that good to be attracting all that attention on her own .. i figured she had deep promo pockets.

 

[skidflow]

Just remember who you're writing for - this type of music is not marketed towards sophisticated listeners like us-- they're marketed to your 15 year old sister.

I guess thats why most of us are still here.

 

[LDB]

>>>>taping on the mic<<<<<<< ummm ummm..this is still ILLMUZIK right? >>>>looking around<<<< Am I in the right muffucken place. I new I should have taken a left at the liquor store!

 

[dahkter]

good thread G-O-D.

It's interesting, I think a lot of us who live / eat / breathe music, we can't wait to hear or produce something original, some sort of style that will raise the bar and get us inspired, to go into that uncharted territory.
The reality to me is something like this:
- come with your own unique style, although make it direct and to the point, don't make it too weird/abstract/trippy, and once it hits, make it your trademark style and capitalize on it (read Timbaland/Neptunes)
- copy other people's styles that are popular at the time, if you have the connections, you can keep working and keep making money
- go in the whole other direction, weird abstract future music, and either don't expect to make any money, or find a way to really target that demographic of stoners that will come to your shows and buy your music....

 

[God]

>>>>taping on the mic<<<<<<< ummm ummm..this is still ILLMUZIK right? >>>>looking around<<<< Am I in the right muffucken place. I new I should have taken a left at the liquor store!

Yeah, it is Illmuzik. So, let me ask -- you DON'T want me to post stuff that may help people in this forum?

I post stuff that I believe would help people look at the major label side of things -- and then Illmuzik fam can be educated about how industry cats look at a situation.

This is a PERFECT example of how a major label would assess this situation. Give me a break with the >>>looks around<<< this is Illmuzik BS.

 

[thedreampolice]

Chicken or the egg.

Are labels wrong for making money in such a way? or are millions of people wrong for buying it?

Its just like spam, if spam email didn't make money there would be no more spam/

 

[LDB]

Yeah, it is Illmuzik. So, let me ask -- you DON'T want me to post stuff that may help people in this forum?

I post stuff that I believe would help people look at the major label side of things -- and then Illmuzik fam can be educated about how industry cats look at a situation.

This is a PERFECT example of how a major label would assess this situation. Give me a break with the >>>looks around<<< this is Illmuzik BS.

lol.....You've been around this site for 5 yrs. a newbie pee on like myself could never tell you what to post here. Let some of the air out of your chest.

 

[Ominous]

I am starting to think God really is God. LOL

Great post.

 

[The Mastermind]

Are labels wrong for making money in such a way? or are millions of people wrong for buying it?

It ain't wrong, I suppose. The kids out there, for the most part, don't want to be challenged. They want a fashion horse to copy and a recycled melody to sing along to in their screechy high pitched voices. Selling to those kids is where the money is at because they all work at McDonalds now and have an entirely disposable income.

But I don't want to go there, I'd rather plough some underground field and be on some starving artist bullshit.

The people I really admire though, are the ones like Outkast who are innovative a lot of the time and then come up with freak pop hits as well. They can walk both sides of the street.

Mind you, some of the way stuff is sold to kids is wrong. I work with kids and I can't believe how many want to be gangsters and pole dancers. These kids have no sense of reality. And I'm in far off Australia.

 

[7thangel]

it's an old concept, shit, baby boomer classics and motown classics have been made in this fashion. nothing inherently wrong with taking 2 or more of the roster that isn't working but you like and try to get them together and see if there's chemistry either as a group or as a writing/production team.

as effed as it is, even creating a similar or carbon copy of a success is the foundation of business (and meth face can never be hot). bep weren't the 1st but the most successful and annoying

my problem is that 1 bullshit group played ad nauseum is torture enough, we don't need another

 

[DJ Excellence]

I'm sure at least one of the BEP's was boning Fergie in the early stages of the "new group" hehe

 

[djloccdown]

Who wouldn't?

But it's Interscope...nuff said.

 

[Intelekt]

ultimately, its a business to these people. Flipsyde have always been wack in my eyes anyway. What damage to their credibility is adding a new Fergie to the group going to do?

The business side of the game doesn't have a face. Its not good or bad, it just is.

 

[Chrono]

lol.....You've been around this site for 5 yrs. a newbie pee on like myself could never tell you what to post here. Let some of the air out of your chest.

... stop being disrespectful, he spends his time to help us.. if it doesn't help you then don't respond and let those who it helps stay informed.

 

[H&R]

Good read ... Very informative, keep posting God.

Thanks