Business analysis of an artist's career - Essay Example

The Eagles Business Analysis of an Artists Career This paper looks at the financial zeniths and downfalls of the Music career of the Eagles in a business context.Apart from their popular music which has won over millions of fans in the past three decades the band has also generated a lot of revenue and profits .Today it is one of the highest grossing bands of the Music industry.The paper analyses the past and present music ventures of this band and their relative success ,given the amount of risk inherent in such experiments.Particular attnention is paid to its recent decision to start a business affiliation with Wal-Mart in the matter of its new Album.There is also a discussion on the legal battles surrounding the business and how they could have been tackled better.The paper ends with a fact based review of the current financial position in terms of merchandise,revenue and profits in relation to the band’s success. Introduction and background The Eagles Band has remained active in Music Business for the periods of 1971-1980 and from 1994 to present. They have worked under the Labels of Asylum, Geffen Records, Lost Highway, Universal and collaborated on business ventures with Poco, The Flying Burrito Brothers,Dillard & Clark,James Gang.The band consists of Glenn Frey,Don Henley,Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit.Some of the Band’s former member’s include Don Felder,Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon.1 The American Rock Band is a very successful business venture in terms of strategy and revenues and originate from in California .The Band currently boasts of five Number 1 singles and four Number 1 albums.The band gained immense popularity in the 1970s and its album was rated number 37 in the Rolling Stone list "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".The business success of the band also reflects from the fact that the band was ranked number 75 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Album “Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975” has been their most profitable business venture to date.Since its break up in the eighties the band does not make any new albums but tours together often. However this year in 2007 they have released their first album in three decades called the Long Road out of Eden and it is currently on of UK’s top 40 Albums. History of business ventures: Success and Failure. The first album, Eagles, was one of the Top 40 singles of its era.. Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" ranked Eagles at number 374.The next album , Desperado, an experimental venture in conceptual song writing did not match the success of their former work and the Album only did business in the U.S pop charts ,with only two major hits.The third venture ,On the Border involved Henley and Frey’s wish to employ a new business strategy and move towards hard rock. They had a change of producers from Glyn Johns to Bill Szymczyk for this purpose.The venture proved successful and this Album yielded a lot of profits with the Eagles' becoming the first of five chart toppers. The next album (One of These Nights) was a further experiment in hard rock and the business collaboration between Henley/Frey as lyricists was getting stronger as the album received a hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart in 1975.2However this new business strategy ultimately cost the band its unity as the hiring of Don Felder meant that Leadon's role was being underplayed.In 1976 with the release of “Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975)”(29 million copies sold),the band prepared for yet another phenomenal success with “ Hotel California”, which was also an instant hit on the Billboard in 1977.The single “ Hotel California” was a major source of profits and royalties for the band in the years to come as since its release it has appeared on several lists of the best albums of all time.This album remains to date their best-selling studio album, with over 16 million copies sold within America..3 The late 70’s saw the disintegration of this phenomenal band and an end to a fantastic ,unbeatable business venture. Meisner started a solo career eversince and was replaced by Poco .The Eagles in their disbanded form then performed some instrumental work and backing vocals in a joint venture with Newman's (for his album,The Little Criminals.)The last venture before the breakup was the Long Run In 1977, and was not very profitable after taking two years to make. At this point the band had done a business deal with Warner Bros to sing a live record for them and this came out as the “. Eagles Live”( 1980).There was a large legal battle boiling on the horizon as the disbanded members contributed to the album from different locations.. Business career after the 1980’s Break up. The ex-band members engaged in their own solo careers for a while and the most successful band member in this regard was Henley who rose to a very profitable Bill Board Top 5 in the mid-nineties.The broken up band never quite lost touch as a business group and they have had some collaborations in the film music of “Life in the fast lane” and “Heavy Metal”. The business effect of the reunion in the 1994 1994 marked the beginning of another favourable business era for this band as there was an Album released in the name and style of “The Common Thread: The Songs of The Eagles” was released in 1993.The new band comprised the five senior members – Frey, Henley, Walsh, Felder and Schmit.” Hell Freezes Over” was released in 1994 and was a phenomenal business success as it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart.The reunion tour generated 6 million copies with in America and a large amount of revenue.Their reunion tours with live shows were also a business success with their costly tickets and media publicity. Their millennium concert ,four part album was released on CD as “ Selected Works: 1972-1999” and did business at the sale of 267,000 copies (at the estimated price of 60 dollars per copy) The legal problems faced by the band The business career of Eagles encountered several legal battles(which gave them great revenue set backs as well).This began when Don Felder sued for $50,000,000 in damages after being dismissed as a band member in 2001 for wrongful dismissal, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.The complaint concerned a business dispute over Henley and Frey receiving a lions share in the revenues of “Hell Freezes Over” and its live shows and there was no equal allocation of profits under the original agreements.He pleaded undue influence and duress when questioned about signing the deal of Henley and Frey receiving thrice the amount of profits than him.. This was justified in the defence proceedings by saying that Henley and Frey had made more creative contribution to the band than Felder More revenues were lost in legal fees and legal threats were exchanged over Felders decision to write a revealing autobiography of the band and reveal its business and corporate secrets.The book has been release in the United kingdom this year in 2007 yet its sale has been restrained in America.The litigation was halted in may 2007 after an undisclosed settlement which was a fairly wise business decision because the legal action was becoming very costly for what remains of the band as at now. A leading entertainment and intellectual property lawyer Wallace Collins (who was also a recording artist for Epic Records)4 has thus remarked about the legal and business battles facing the eagles, “Interband issues and disputes are many and varied. Recently, a member of the Eagles sued the remaining members saying he was forced out of the Eagles corporation by the other shareholders (and invoked provisions of the California corporate law pertaining to minority shareholders in close corporations).” Wallace also analyses their business situation well and gives some very sound advice as to how such band arrangements be legally drafted to prevent business disasters later on. “It is very difficult to form a good band and to achieve a successful career in the music business. Any group of two or more musicians working together would be well-advised to create and sign a good Internal Band Contract so that the band does not later self-destruct over money and ego issues and forfeit its hard-earned career success. In a perfect world, each member could afford its own lawyer to quickly and inexpensively prepare and sign such an agreement. In the real world, that may not be the case. In any event, the attached basic form of Internal Band Contract would be a good starting point.”5   Another one of the successful millennium ventures came in 2003 when the Eagles released a new greatest hits album The Very Best of the Eagles with a 9/11 tragedy based single “Hole in the World”.This album had the honour of attaining the platinum status.The last phenomenal success of this band has been the very recent “ Long Road Out of Eden” performed by Frey, Henley, Walsh, and Schmit. The album debuted at No. 1 in the America and Europe and is their third platinum record. The Business Future of the Eagles There have been news that the band will reunite this year despite the unpleasantness and the business losses provoked by the legal battles in the recent years.The band is reportedly looking at “ a new paradigm” in their new business decision 6as they are looking at the choice of WalMart as an exclusive distributor of the band’s first studio album in 27 years.This has indeed raised eyebrows because of the band’s exclusive marketing deal with Wal-Mart (particularly from social activists.) 7 This move has been criticised a lot in terms of business strategy and publicity, “……… if The Eagles had been more innovative, they could have created broad anticipation for the new stuff. As it is, concert-goers will hit the head when the group launches into those unrecognizable ‘hits’…. association with the products sold at Walmart has everything to do with how you perceive WalMart. So, if you have a negative view of Walmart (and not everyone does) will that transfer to The Eagles? It does for me. ….When you think about it The Long Road Out of Eden is a rather unfortunate choice of title for this album when you remember that Walmart has a history of locking up employees, dissuading employees from their legitimate right to union representation and engaging in an active effort to deflate employee wages. Clearly, for some Walmart employees there is no “road out of Eden”” Revenues from international business tours/music performances In 2007 alone the Eagles have made a lot of revenues from the tours with in the US and internationally.A recent news item has stated that “they have played three dates at Indian Wells Tennis Center near Palm Springs, all of which brought the total SoCaI gross to $23.5 million and 202,933 in paid attendance”.8 There international success has also been phenomenal, “The Eagles close out the year with a trip to Hawaii that includes five sellouts, four of them at Honolulu's Blaisdell Center. The band begins next spring with a trip to Europe. "We just put some shows up in Europe, England, Ireland, May 23-June 23,9 They attribute their high revenues in this regard to the live DVD and NBC concert special strategies which allow them better publicity for their albums. Current financial position The band has always made a fair amount of revenues.The album On The Road,Alone grossed $26 million inclusive of the international tours .The band is one of the highest grossing bands of all times as it is said to charge $2 million just to play at private events.1.1 million Eagle CD’s were sold in 2004. 10A wisely drafted legal settlement allows them to earn 100% royalties on their music of the 1970’s which alone equals 5 million and over.11Their profitable business strategy is apparent from the fact alone that their concert tickets cost over 100 dollars and their costly merchandise like tea shirts and autographed souvenirs are immensely popular amongst the teenage concert goers. Conclusion Apart from a few legal hiccups, the overall financial performance of the band has never actually gone below profit levels. This is owed to their highly commercialised publicity, foreign tours and affiliation with big corporation giants like Wal-Mart. ____________________________________________________________________ References Baskerville, D. (1995) Music Industry Handbook. 6th Edition. Sage Publications Davis,S. and Laing, D. (2001) The Guerilla Guide to the Music Business. Continuum International Publishing Group Harrison, A. (2003) Music The Business: The Essential Guide to the Law and the Deals. Virgin Books Kemp, C. (2000) Music Industry Management and Promotion. 2nd Edition. Elm Publications Krasilovsky, W. and Shemel, S . (2000) This Business Of Music. Billboard Books Music Managers Forum (2001) The MMF Guide to Professional Music Management. Sanctuary Publishing Laurel Canyon The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll's Legendary Neighbourhood Marc Eliot To the Limit: The Untold Story of the Eagles,: Electronic sources 1. http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/news/article3109890.ece 2. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article676369.ece 3. http://personanondata.blogspot.com/2007/11/building-imperfect-beast.html 4. Wikipedia.com ____________________________________________________________________ Read More