O/T - Annie Lennox dropped by record label

[SusieP]

[quote] Lennox devastated at record label snub [UK Daily Mirror 15th Jan 2008]


(Tuesday January 15, 2008 10:25 AM)

Annie Lennox was left devastated after she was dropped from her record label - and has branded the move a "kick in the teeth".
The former Eurythmics star was stunned when Sony BMG stopped answering her phone calls just weeks before her contract was due to expire.
Lennox, 53, insists she was shocked at the way she was treated by the company which once hailed her as "one of the finest musical voices of the age".
She says, "They totally ignored me. It was bizarre. It was a kick in the teeth. They didn't return my phone calls or emails for three weeks. I'm trying to find out what's behind it.
"Probably a good thing I'm no longer with them - mild understatement. Unless it's them trying to tell me something... Hello!"
The singer admits she has been left contemplating her future in the music industry.
She adds, "It feels like I'm spent, as if I've completely run out of energy. I'm going to take my time over the coming months to figure out what to do with this freedom."
Lennox's last album, Songs of Mass Destruction, charted at number nine in the Billboard 200 chart in October 2007, selling a healthy 78,000 copies during its first week of release in the U.S. [quote]


Has she had her day?
Is 78000 copies of an album really healthy these days?

[journeyrock]

Well, either Neal took the idea from Sony, or Sony took the idea from Neal on how to let someone go. Which came first, the chicken or the egg...... Hmmmm!

That is just plain wrong any way you look at it. I don't know what is healthy in the album category these days with itunes and all.

[SusieP]

To be honest I have found a lot of her post-Eurythmics stuff to be very depressing. But that never stopped Leonard Cohen making a living!

And maybe 78,000 units isn't much in today's market, but this 'ignoring' phone calls and e-mails seems to be getting a regular thing.
What happened to courtesy.

[Fire99]

lets remember that 78,000 was in the 1st week.. so i wouldnt like to estimate total sales..

With EMI laying off staff etc it sounds pretty cut-throat with the 'big boys' at the moment.

She's a great talent but perhaps not where they see their core sales to be.

Still no excuse to ignore messages etc.. Very unprofessional IMO.. and as they say 'What goes around comes around!"

[lights1961]

Lennox devastated at record label snub


(Tuesday January 15, 2008 10:25 AM)

Annie Lennox was left devastated after she was dropped from her record label - and has branded the move a "kick in the teeth".
The former Eurythmics star was stunned when Sony BMG stopped answering her phone calls just weeks before her contract was due to expire.
Lennox, 53, insists she was shocked at the way she was treated by the company which once hailed her as "one of the finest musical voices of the age".
She says, "They totally ignored me. It was bizarre. It was a kick in the teeth. They didn't return my phone calls or emails for three weeks. I'm trying to find out what's behind it.
"Probably a good thing I'm no longer with them - mild understatement. Unless it's them trying to tell me something... Hello!"
The singer admits she has been left contemplating her future in the music industry.
She adds, "It feels like I'm spent, as if I've completely run out of energy. I'm going to take my time over the coming months to figure out what to do with this freedom."
Lennox's last album, Songs of Mass Destruction, charted at number nine in the Billboard 200 chart in October 2007, selling a healthy 78,000 copies during its first week of release in the U.S.

Has she had her day?
Is 78000 copies of an album really healthy these days?

the only people who bought the last cd were liberals... so 78000 liberals and even they hated the record.. hahaha. when you get profiled on cbs this morning---and still only manage that many units sold is not a good thing...



Rick

[SusieP]

the only people who bought the last cd were liberals... so 78000 liberals and even they hated the record.. hahaha. when you get profiled on cbs this morning---and still only manage that many units sold is not a good thing...



Rick

ha ha, maybe if she'd done more happy songs she'd have sold more copies.

[Big J]

Good riddance to bad music. If she'd sexed it up a bit more instead of trying to look mannish she'd have a deal and have sold more albums along the way.

[StoneCold]

Let's get her a Mojito.

[jrnyman28]

She's done like TWO Cds since leaving Eurythmics...and she says she is spent????

Shitty thing to get dumped like that...a sad state of affairs in the record label business. No one is asking themselves WHY she sold the number she did. They just cut her.....the record labels are like cold medicine: don't cure the problem just cover up the symptoms!

[The Sushi Hunter]

There was something she did in public not too long ago that hit the news, though the exact details I can't recollect. She was pissed about how the crowd or audience acted or responded to her live act. I'm pretty sure that has something to do with what the label did here.

[texafana]

Never liked her, never will. ugh...

[johnroxx]

There was something she did in public not too long ago that hit the news, though the exact details I can't recollect. She was pissed about how the crowd or audience acted or responded to her live act. I'm pretty sure that has something to do with what the label did here.

I'm guessing you MAY be thinking about Tori Amos (who I fondly refer to as Torrid Anus), who recently stopped her show here in San Diego in the middle of a song to chew out a couple of female fans, sitting in free front row seats her staff had upgraded them with, who were constantly chatting on their cell phones and getting up and down to go to the head, get drinks, or whatever.

BTW, the label wouldn't be dropping someone just for doing this. TONS of rock/pop stars have committed FAR greater transgressions without getting dumped by their record company...

;^)

[The Sushi Hunter]

There was something she did in public not too long ago that hit the news, though the exact details I can't recollect. She was pissed about how the crowd or audience acted or responded to her live act. I'm pretty sure that has something to do with what the label did here.

I'm guessing you MAY be thinking about Tori Amos (who I fondly refer to as Torrid Anus), who recently stopped her show here in San Diego in the middle of a song to chew out a couple of female fans, sitting in free front row seats her staff had upgraded them with, who were constantly chatting on their cell phones and getting up and down to go to the head, get drinks, or whatever.

BTW, the label wouldn't be dropping someone just for doing this. TONS of rock/pop stars have committed FAR greater transgressions without getting dumped by their record company...

;^)

Maybe then she just plain stinks and the label knows she's a bomb.

[BobbyinTN]

Actually, her contract was up. She explains on her MySpace.

[STORY_TELLER]

Sounds like an agism based marketing decision to me. Marketing rules financial decisions in the entertainment businesses like you would not believe. Ever since the introduction of MTV, it's been more about what the music looks like than what it sounds like.

Corporations suck.

[Red13JoePa]

Remember the time time she went on Letterman in like '93 or '94?

Yikes... Dave cracked some jokes and she.....let's just say they were unappreciated and a commercial was dialed up with haste.

[Big J]

Remember the time time she went on Letterman in like '93 or '94?

Yikes... Dave cracked some jokes and she.....let's just say they were unapreciated and a commercial was dialed up with haste.

LOL Youtube or it didnt happen!

[brywool]

The recent news may be about the overzealous fan (guy) that came after her on stage. It really freaked her out and she left the stage. She didn't know if the guy was trying to hurt her.

Regarding her output, "Diva" is a great record. While a bit of a depressing album subject-wise, it's got some great melodies, lyrics and really great production.

I saw her recently on a show (AE Live??- I don't remember) and she wasn't that great. In fact, each time I saw live clips of her, they were nothing to write home about. Having said that, her solo albums are really good (IMO). I like them much more than I like the Eurythmic's stuff (Dave Stewart just produced Ringo's new album- sounds good).

With EMI talking about slashing 2000 jobs, artists who work for them talking strike, the IRAA pointing fingers at college kids for the music industry's problems, and robotic, computerized crap being put out by the record companies- is it any wonder that record labels are in a friggin' coma? Record execs just don't get it. Maybe it's all the coke they did in the 80s while the Seattle sound (blech!) totally kicked them in the ass.

Seriously- I wish that artists would go around the record labels and do stuff on their own. So many of them could use the web to their advantage. It will never be the 80s again as far as the number of albums sold, so the artists need to figure out another way.

[Red13JoePa]

Remember the time time she went on Letterman in like '93 or '94?

Yikes... Dave cracked some jokes and she.....let's just say they were unapreciated and a commercial was dialed up with haste.

LOL Youtube or it didnt happen!

Oh, I'm sure it's online SOMEwhere.

She went all "Manson Lamps" on him because he poked fun at her odd ("Diva" album era) headdress.

[Gordon from Edinburgh]

[Has she had her day?
Is 78000 copies of an album really healthy these days?[/quote]

Journey would kill for the new album to sell 78,000 copies in its first week of release...........