So if I sign here, I get candy?

From : <******@aol.com>
Sent : Sunday, November 21, 2004 5:10 PM
To : gordon@allagesradio.com
Subject : Dude...


What the fuck is with the Academy Is... signing to fucking Atlantic
Records!? I can't believe that that shit is fucking going
on...Ridiculous...Well, let me know what you think at some point...Jesus...

Neil

The above email comes from a close friend of mine, whose opinion on such matters, I hold in the highest respect. A) He knows what he's talking about and B) he has more tattoos than anyone reading this.

[Fair Warning: The run-on sentences will be aplenty.]

Although the power of the internet has stirred such rumors, no official announcement has been made to latest signing of Chicago pop rockers, The Academy Is. If the rumors prove to be true, the teenage pop sensations will be sharing a label with the likes of Twista, Lil' Kim, Matchbox20, Ryan Cabrera, Shinedown, Trik Daddy, Kid Rock, POD, and Rush...Just to name a few.

There is a giant question that must be asked though, and that is, at what point did signing to a major label become a normal thing? At this point in time, signing to a major label is as close to stapling your balls to your chin as it ever has been before. In the past, there were at least multiple majors that were competing with each other in the business world, but today, we have about two gigantic companies remaining that keep their business within the other various gigantic media companies (Clearchannel, etc). What is appealing about this?

In the case of The Academy, a band that only recently (1 year) has made a name for themselves outside of Chicago and the suburbs, to me, are getting in over their heads. They have an EP on a tiny micro-label in Chicago, which sparked their signing to Fueled By Ramen, and their debut album isn't even out yet, and now they are signing to a label that is controlled by one of the biggest media groups in the world, Warner Music Group? You mean to tell me, that a label that is/was home to Led Zepplin, now cares about a band of kids that has a 5 song EP to their name, and about a year's worth of touring under their belt? Most of the bigger indie labels would hesitate to even jump on board with that. And while I have to admit that they write some catchy hooks, this band has been crippled by their extreme musical resemblance to newly indie-turned-major label band, Taking Back Sunday. Labels eat up musical fads to death, and this move by far is a clear cut example.

Remember ska? Remember the Chicago ska kings, the Blue Meanies? They released multiple scene rattling albums on Asian Man in the early 90's, then made the jump to MCA as MCA was buying up the ska fad, and then lost all interest in the band and their album when it came time to distribute and promote the album, because the ska fad faded into the dust of first wave of pop-punk (Blink and likes). The album sold nothing, the band was dropped, and broke up soon there after*.

Punk and underground bands (I use that very loosely), have a very bad track record on majors. Once the popularity of segmented genre fades, the bands aren't general enough to appeal to the larger meat-head consumers of corporate music. Do I even need to mention Jawbreaker?

My homeboys, Rise Against, decided to take the jump and see what happens at the home they now call Dreamworks. They released their album, and now they are in commercial radio rotation. If this album would have come out on Fat, would radio be playing "Give It All", of course not. It's a messed up and shady system and I'm glad that it is working for some, but does it seem all that worth it? When you are a band that has a crazy following with your independent label releases, what really is the added bonus of getting wrapped up in big business contractual garbage? A bus? A producer who smoked weed with Nirvana? I just don't see the greater side to it.

Death Cab for Cutie just had a great summer of mass popularity, all while on an indie label, why did they need to sign to Atlantic a few weeks ago?

This all just blows me away. I can't believe this all just stemmed from The Academy Is...

In this case, I think that rockstars just want to be bigger rockstars.

There is so much more to say, but I feel like I'm just going in emotional circles. This may seem like a rant on the Academy, but it truly was just a vehicle to speak on the subject. In my opinion, I would say it's a terrible idea to even get involved with a major label at this point. Let them run poop-smear bands like Trapt, Puddle of Mudd, and Godsmack into the ground. Those guys don't even know reality anymore.