|
Post by Mo'Matt on Apr 4, 2013 8:18:25 GMT
Not sure I want to know more about the dark side of Mo' Wax.
Me neither, but it's too late now!
Luke Vibert seems like such a cool bloke. Plus, you have to respect the only person that's released stuff on my holy trinity of records labels (Ninja, Mo'Wax & Warp). The amount of spare music he has is just mind-boggling.
Thanks Astro, I should have guessed it was from your site. Kind of ironic that one of the Sam Sever tracks was all about how shady records companies are (Words Of Wisdom).
The last item with the MW logo on there was Never, Never Land, and it wasn't on Mo'Wax... IIRC. We tend to forget how much MW stuff was just licensed from other labels in the latter years
The last Mo'Wax item I know is the Self Defence box in 2006, but hopefully there'll be more soon!
I'm sure JL's vanity projects have got in the way. Good point about the licensed artists too. I'm sure they'll still take a fair amount of effort to get out, but must be a lot less than proper artist development. There was a lot of them too.
|
|
|
Post by evil:cat on Apr 6, 2013 0:15:59 GMT
Regardless of shady practices, and licensed artists, or even how those artists felt, MW is still responsible for bringing some amazing artists to my attention. Vibert might have hated feeling pressured to make his stuff sound more Mo'Waxy, but Big Soup is my favourite start-to-finish Vibert LP. That's just one example of many! Shame on James for being a prick, but Steve Jobs was a prick too, and gave me some great tech. Miles Davis was a prick. Sometimes it takes pricks to make great stuff. This is beginning to sound like the end speech from Team America, so I'll stop.
|
|
|
Post by cockneywolfe on Apr 7, 2013 0:45:18 GMT
Vibert might have hated feeling pressured to make his stuff sound more Mo'Waxy, but Big Soup is my favourite start-to-finish Vibert LP. That's just one example of many! I'm a firm believer that more often than not people produce their best work when restricted by circumstance. Just look at the difference between the Star wars originals and the prequels when Lucas had the means to fully realise his vision, the originals could have turned out just the same had he had the means at the time to realise his vision the way he truly wanted. As for music royalties issue, in the past I have worked in the royalties department of a record label and several years at PRS (the UK royalty collection society). Pretty much every writer/artist I encountered all sang the same tune, which is they never ever saw any royalties from their labels, which is why performance royalties are so important to artists for their income (and should always be protected by law as they currently are). As for the label side of things it can easily take up to 2 years to receive payment of sales from distributors and/or other labels who have licensed their tracks. Which is why a lot of small labels go under as they can't afford to underwrite their operational costs whilst they wait for payments to eventually come in, even if their sales have been huge and they are owed vast sums. Just look at the whole PF episode with Shadow earning from the performance royalties and JL hardly making any money from the recording royalties and he even owned the label it was released on. I'm not taking any stance on what may of may not happened at Mo Wax, but just wanted highlight that what may appear on the surface as annoying and unreasonable can be purely down to the mechanics of the industry, for right or wrong. For instance when Pabs explained to us why certain territories/sellers get exclusive bonus tracks over others, there are legitimate reasons which are there to enable the industry to function at the level it requires (again for right or wrong!) It's not just to tempt their fans into buying multiple copies of the same record.
|
|
|
Post by the fuhz on Apr 7, 2013 7:33:49 GMT
Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration though? I thought that there were only about 160 releases over a ten-year period.
Yeah probably an exaggeration, there are about 500 in discogs.com altogether, but can't be bothered checking it out properly. Depends on what you count as a record really. There must be loads of releases including all the promo versions of everything.
Yes, he is definitely including promo editions with those figures. Remember, most of them had completely original artwork and featured unique track-listings. All of that stuff had to be produced, looked over, debated, and given the green light. I remember interviewing South in 2003 and Joel Cadbury referred to MW 'going bust'. At the time, I took this as a hint that towards the last few years they just weren't turning as much as a profit anymore. And interests were also changing. In another conversation with Ade Blackburn (of Clinic) who confirmed that MW had been hoping to sign them (before Domino) however, the funds weren't there. Personally, I would have really liked to see/hear the output if that deal had gone through.
|
|
|
Post by Bester on Apr 7, 2013 18:14:15 GMT
Vibert might have hated feeling pressured to make his stuff sound more Mo'Waxy, but Big Soup is my favourite start-to-finish Vibert LP. That's just one example of many! Just look at the whole PF episode with Shadow earning from the performance royalties and JL hardly making any money from the recording royalties and he even owned the label it was released on.. Isn't that because Shadow made all the music? It doesn't strike me as particularly unfair.
|
|
|
Post by evil:cat on Apr 7, 2013 23:54:18 GMT
Just look at the whole PF episode with Shadow earning from the performance royalties and JL hardly making any money from the recording royalties and he even owned the label it was released on.. Isn't that because Shadow made all the music? It doesn't strike me as particularly unfair. I think that many of the perceived problems with MW came from a naiveté regarding how the industry works. James talked big at the time and people probably felt personally let down. He didm;t understand what he was promising. As stated, he was a little bitter that the writer and producer of most of Psyence Fiction (Shadow) got most of the money. But remember, this is the guy who complained, around the time of War Stories' release, that he couldn't charge £10,000 for a remix any more. I guess some lessons are hard to learn.
|
|
|
Post by Mo'Matt on Apr 8, 2013 8:28:21 GMT
Looks like Charlie Dark / D'Afro ( Attica Blues) is about to spill the beans. Not sure what interview he means though. Was it with one of you guys? I bet James is shitting it somewhat. twitter.com/daddydark
|
|
|
Post by AstroBBoy on Apr 8, 2013 8:34:33 GMT
Ouch. I am very interested to read this but scared of what's going to be said.
Is digging up all this stuff going to tarnish the anniversary?
|
|
|
Post by Dale Cooper on Apr 8, 2013 8:42:50 GMT
Looks like Charlie Dark / D'Afro ( Attica Blues) is about to spill the beans. Not sure what interview he means though. Was it with one of you guys? I bet James is shitting it somewhat. twitter.com/daddydarkI'll post it this week, Charlie is going to send me some more good stuff (and maybe some FUCKING GOOD stuff) to add to the article. He has posted the first tweet before I got his full reply so I was bit worried about it, but it's quite cool, nothing really tough. It's VERY interesting, you'll enjoy reading this one! Is digging up all this stuff going to tarnish the anniversary? Nope, he's not been contacted (yet?) by the Mo' Wax crew. But hopefully I'll have them for the site!
|
|
|
Post by Mo'Matt on Apr 8, 2013 8:45:08 GMT
Ouch. I am very interested to read this but scared of what's going to be said. Is digging up all this stuff going to tarnish the anniversary?
Ha ha, exactly. If James has ever done shady things, then the truth should come out. As Evil:Cat has said, some of the best artists are complete wankers in real life. So it's not really going to spoil my love of the label.
I don't mind the anniversary being tarnished, as long as it actually bloody happens. The whole idea is massively late and a bit silly anyway.
|
|
|
Post by Dale Cooper on Apr 8, 2013 8:49:28 GMT
oops, I misunderstood "tarnish", so the answer is still "no", on the contrary he looks very happy to bring back memories of the good old days.
|
|
|
Post by Mo'Matt on Apr 8, 2013 9:34:56 GMT
Awesome! Any rare photos or maybe even unreleased music from the era? Attica Blues were dope, glad you've done this. Are you targeting anyone else for interviews? I'd love to hear about what happened to Deborah Anderson. I know she's still active (but in photography rather than music) and is on Twitter. Watch out though, her Twitter page is a bit NSFW. twitter.com/DAnderson_PhotoAlso - I've got some tasty press releases for you! Just need to get them scanned.
|
|
|
Post by Dale Cooper on Apr 8, 2013 21:43:34 GMT
Awesome! Any rare photos or maybe even unreleased music from the era? Attica Blues were dope, glad you've done this. I've asked things like this, yes and he did not say no. We'll see! Extremely cool guy by the way, a real pleasure to exchange with. Can't wait to post the article! Are you targeting anyone else for interviews? I'd love to hear about what happened to Deborah Anderson. I know she's still active (but in photography rather than music) and is on Twitter. Watch out though, her Twitter page is a bit NSFW. Deborah Anderson is on my list (well, actually everyone is on my list!) I've already been in touch with her so it's gonna be easy. We already discussed her album here a few months ago, maybe she'll let us know about more music? But before her, I've contacted a few "more important" people, still waiting for some replies.
|
|
|
Post by Mo'Matt on Apr 8, 2013 22:09:39 GMT
Deborah Anderson is on my list (well, actually everyone is on my list!) I've already been in touch with her so it's gonna be easy. We already discussed her album here a few months ago, maybe she'll let us know about more music? But before her, I've contacted a few "more important" people, still waiting for some replies.
Wow, good on you for being so pro-active! I never thought of just contacting these guys directly. I suppose at the moment it's never been easier has it.
ps: Charlie Dark's now following me on Twitter/Instagram. That has made my week. ;D
|
|
|
Post by Mo'Matt on Apr 9, 2013 9:33:27 GMT
Amazing. MoWaxOfficial just posted NoSurrender's interview with Swifty, despite it making James look like a bit of a dick. I don’t think they read it.
|
|