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Topic: Mike against giving away Tubular Bells< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
bee Offline




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Posted: May 10 2007, 13:08

Well I was really delighted to see it given away, didn't mind which paper, the more people to listen the better, but that was before I knew Mike hadn't been consulted. That really was a disrespectful thing to do. I just can't believe it, who did they ask? Do you think it's anything to do with the fact that Tubular Bells goes back to Mike in 2008, & someone is taking a bit of a liberty & trying to steal a last little bit of glory? Surely they must have got permission from somewhere or can anyone get hold of anything and offer it free for their own gain. Funny that The Killing Fields was also given away a few weeks ago. Is that a coincidence?

I'm really mad about this, don't like things not being fair. Tubular Bells' 'value' doesn't change or it's 'worthiness', but it does make me loathe the press even more. Guttersnipes.

:(


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The Big BellEnd Offline




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Posted: May 10 2007, 14:56

I must admit that I was all for the idea of the free album in the sunday mail, I mean it did get the big sell on the telly and we were told in the voice-over that we were going to get the chance of what was to be owning an all time classic piece of music history, but with the utmost of respect to be shown to it's creator, we now know it was given the go-ahead without Mike's blessing, all wrong really, but I will stick to my gun's and say that to me it still does not cheapen the Tubular Bells , product, image , logo, sound, MO himself or any thing's related to the masterpiece that is TB's.

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Ray Offline




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Posted: May 10 2007, 16:23

Quote (ImAFoolAndImLaughing @ May 10 2007, 08:41)
It's interesting that the Mail chose to covermount a complete album. They generally go in more for "various-artist" compilations or samplers, don't they? I wonder if Mike would have been less angry if they'd've given away a "Best Of Mike Oldfield" Compilation (comprised of Moonlight Shadow, Foreign affair, Mike's Single etc.)

I also wonder whether the Mail's decision to give away the whole of TB was based on their perception of it as a bit of a "lame-duck" album, and that therefore they could get away with it without too many recriminations. Personally, hearing that the Mail was planning to give it away free with their poxy rag triggered the same feelings within me that I feel whenever I see it in the Bargain-Bin in HMV - anger and frustration and the suspicion that people see it as a bit of a joke! :(

But... since the mail have gotten into the habit of covermounting classic albums on their newspapers, I'm looking forward to seeing them giving away The Beatles' White Album, Nirvana's Nevermind, and Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon with future editions...  Will it happen? I think not! :(

He probably refused to give the editor an autograph!

:O


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Tati The Sentinel Offline




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Posted: May 10 2007, 16:33

You can download Mike's interview about the subject @ BBC Radio 4's Front Row show yesterday here:
http://www.megaupload.com/es/?d=00W4WLEQ
(thanks to  http://www.lacoctelera.com/mikeoldfield)


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moonchildhippy Offline




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Posted: May 10 2007, 17:20

Quote (Matt @ May 09 2007, 08:55)
If I had poured my soul into a work of art which had been a huge success and of which I was enormously proud I know I would be livid if someone went and distributed it free with a paper without my consent!

Too right I'd be livid in the same situation too :( . Mike has every right to be angry as he wasn't consulted first. Now where can I find that petition supporting Mike.

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Thea Cochrane Offline




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Posted: May 13 2007, 19:22

It's to do with who owns the recordings. Where the 1973 recording of TB is concerned Mike doesn't own the recordings, EMI does. So technically EMI can do what they like (within reason set out in the record contract) without having to ask Mike. As the Music Week article points out a phone call or something first would have been polite, but not required.

Yes, Mike can be angry about it if he wants to be but it's happened; there wouldn't have been much he could do about it beforehand and there certainly isn't anything he can do about it now. May as well wait for the royalty cheques from the book to come in, sales of which would probably have been bolstered by all this publicity.

Ooooooh, I just had a thought.
So the newspaper gives TB away free = Mike in the news.
Mike is annoyed about it = Mike still in the news.
Big debate in the music press = Mike still in the news.
Surprise, surprise Mike happens to have a new book out so people seeing the book in the shop are less "Mike who?" and more, "Oh, that's the Tubular Bells guy."

Anyone else suspicious?
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Marky Offline




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Posted: May 14 2007, 06:44

Having been in media relations for many years, Mat, I think  you could have the answer right there: generating a "row" (or discussion in anybody else's words) is standard practice for promoting something or raising awareness. Having said that, its not Mike's style, so it might be a genuine one.

I thought the earlier comment about Mike's album reverting to him next year (a point he makes twice in his book) might explain why the give-away happened. No point in blaming the Mail on Sunday here - the paper at least is one of the most successful and high profile and if its to be given away free that's where you'd want it to be.

If I were losing the royalties, I'd flood the market and see if I got ancillary sales on the back of that as I'd have nothing to lose. What makes me curious is whether Mike is angry because he gets no royalties. If the albums were sold, he gets a cut. But what happens if they are given away? Presumably he does not. That sort of thing is usually covered in the contract. The MoS may well have had to pay EMI for the stock, but that would not necessarily constitute a for-value sale, merely a commercial deal of another character. In which case, Mike may well have not been consulted and made exactly nothing. The only possible gain to Mike is through sales of Changeling. (But ... has anybody seen any promotion for THAT?  Does not seem like it to me!;)

In the end, whether its real or trumped up indignation, I dont blame Mike for the response one jot - get what you can. Its only a shame that it may reduce his capacity to use the album next year to find a new recording contract if it has no gas left in the tank. Maybe that means we can look forward Tubular Bells 4! (Or IV?)
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gbcrvh Offline




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Posted: May 14 2007, 18:42

I found another article on the subject:
http://www.nme.com/news/mike-oldfield/28324
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gbcrvh Offline




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Posted: May 14 2007, 19:26

Quote (Marky @ May 14 2007, 06:44)
Maybe that means we can look forward Tubular Bells 4! (Or IV?)

Well, under Mercury there were no Bells albums yet released.  His contract is such that he needs to do 3 albums with them.  One he did (L&S).  Second one will probably come for Christmas and third one is questionable. It really depends on what he is planing to do or how much he is motivated to do.  It has been already mentioned that in 2008 back catalog probably goes to Mercury and Mike did say before he was working on re-releases (5.1 I assume) so he will either have yet another album with Mercury and re-release everything or have that one album and change label again or perhaps create his own and support newcomers from myspace, youtube, etc through his label and get involved from time to time with those artists.  I guess there is time when everyone simply wishes to change seats and Mike might decide to try that too.  TB IV?  Not sure.  I think Mike for past years has shown he is a bit without inspiration for whole album which has head and tale, but still has something magic and you can always find at least few masterpieces on each album.  TV IV would need to be perfect from head to tail - like TB2 was.  Not sure if Mike might get such inspiration once again.  But you never know...
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Marky Offline




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Posted: May 15 2007, 06:23

Mike signed with Universal - in fact it says so in his autobiog - which owns Mercury (in fact, it owns all these labels). This is probably why the next, classical, piece will apparently be on a specialist classical music label. That might make him more marketable to a specific audience which may be good news.

By which I mean he will have a "home" in an established category (even if its just for one album) and be promotable and get a budget to promote to a ready made audience!  That's always been Mike's trouble - being homeless musically. It's a theme that runs through his book too.
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Marky Offline




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Posted: May 15 2007, 06:47

Yeah and here is another reference to this story which is getting picked up so its not hurting Mike that much....! http://www.gigwise.com/news?contentid=31614
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DarkFeline Offline




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Posted: May 23 2007, 08:29

The thing is that, saying that sales of the album increased due to the giveaway (around 2+million right?), that doesn't make economic sense at all -- unless EMI happen to have lots of TB albums left lying around in their warehouses.

Anyhow I'm happy that this has generated some media interest in the British press. Hope this gives Mike a good lift in his career. :)


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Moz Offline




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Posted: June 30 2007, 21:20

There's a brief mention of this in a new article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6256732.stm

The focus is on Prince's new album being given away free.


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DCDayDreamer Offline




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Posted: July 08 2007, 07:11

I really can't see what harm this does, giving away something for free to promote a product isn't anything new, it's only because everyone's Mike Oldfield mad that's caused the stir.

The vast majority of the younger generation today don't even know who Mike Oldfield is, ask around and you might get the response "the name rings a bell" - you'd also get a strange response when you start laughing at their reply.

If you were to conduct a little experiment, let's say find a room full of the younger generation (a youth club or social event), if you sneaked a copy of Tubular Bells into their CD player and played the intro - what do you think the reaction would be?. You can guarantee that most (if not all) would turn to the source of that music, you can also guarantee that most would download that tune within a day or two, the rest would probably obtain a copy of the tune via CDR, Memory Stick, Bluetooth, or whatever. Now it all depends on who created the MP3, WMA, or whatever music file of Tubular Bells, will it have an ID tag that names Mike Oldfield as the artist?, probably not, it's more likely going to be named 'Excorcist Theme' or something like that, it's also more than likely just going to be the intro and not the full track.

My point here is that giving away the Tubular Bells CD for free in any form of advertising campaign is much better than having the music passed around in a lifeless digital format without real credit, it'll only end up sitting deep in a storage device in the end anyway.

If I was Mike Oldfield, I'd be extremely proud with the knowledge that a company used something I created as a teenager almost 35 years ago to promote their product. Of course, if I was Mike Oldfiled, I'd also check how many millions I had in the bank, and start rubbing my hands together thinking about the possibility of back catalogue sales after such a promotion.

Life in the modern world, don't you just love it?.
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