Morrissey comment on TTY about the Hollywood Bowl DVD!

Later, if the information is available without making too much effort, I want to know who paid to do what draft of the script, what pre-buys were made, if the remake rights were sold, how many points the star got etc.

As do I. In movies it's interesting to see the financial side because money is so critical in which movies get made. Looking at the weekend grosses I can probably predict (as anyone can) what's going to come out next summer. The sums of money are staggering, and how Hollywood is financed is endlessly entertaining because you get to watch clowns and eccentrics, idiots and whores, run a major business enterprise. A film is an investment of a hundred million dollars or more (for a mainstream feature) so reading up on the finer points is helpful in knowing how the system works and what to expect in the future.

The music industry is different, however. Except in the most extreme cases, most albums are not anywhere near the financial investment a film is. It is like the movie industry, but much, much smaller in scale, and with fewer factors coming into play. To make an album you need a producer, a band, a studio, and a way to distribute the music. That's a lot, but it's not nearly as much as the cast, crew and distribution needed for a movie. Even the most shoestring-budgeted movie is much more elaborate than, say, the way the Buzzcocks recorded "Spiral Scratch"-- a classic EP as good as anything ever released by a major label.

Morrissey can make music without all the hassle if he wants. He chooses not to because he feels like he's a star and should be pampered like one. I don't mind; he's earned the right to feel that way. More power to him. But talking royalties, lawsuits, etc. is quite different because, at the end of the day, it doesn't have to unfold like that. He can choose a different way and he doesn't.

But back to the comparisons to movies: Woody Allen, who has a movie coming out today, is another legend who pretty much has a built-in audience that won't grow much (it may shrink, because his audience is comprised largely of older people). Instead of fighting that, he has gone to Europe for financing. His work doesn't cost a lot of money to shoot, which is by his design, and he has had to compromise only slightly by writing features that will play in Europe (his British films, and now Barcelona). His movies are going to make a certain amount of money and then vanish to DVD. The glory days of the late Seventies and Eighties are gone. But so what? He's made some good movies, and one of them, "Match Point", was a moderate hit. He may go on making these smaller movies just as he has done for ten or fifteen years. The point is that Woody Allen has had to change to reflect the realities of his business model, but with him it's still about art: writing scripts, making movies, adding to his legacy.

If he can do that in the film industry, Morrissey can do the same in the music business. Would anyone honestly care about record labels, contracts, and royalty streams, or about how high his profile is in the mainstream culture, if Morrissey were releasing one good album and a few singles each and every year, like clockwork? I'd be thrilled.
 
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and i dunno if i was him if i would be complaining about artwork when you consider many of the covers of the last few releases.p.
so you didnt like the covers of all you need is me and thats how people grow up then?:eek:
too much skin for your taste?:D

or to which releases do you refer to?
 
so you didnt like the covers of all you need is me and thats how people grow up then?:eek:
too much skin for your taste?:D

or to which releases do you refer to?

i mean in general, but first of the gang,ROTT,come to mind,was it boy happy's cover that has him looking like he has bad heartburn and gas? many of the photos are fine but the artwork over all seems lazy to me,the last really beautiful artwork for a morrissey release really was vauxhall and i
 
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i didnt really like the last two singles covers but a i loved the GH artwork i thought it was great even the botty LOL:o
^^:D
and hairy....the least thing i expected ever to see his naked arse but....eh why not? even though i dont see the connection to the GH album when including this pic in the GH booklet/his need to do it....but nice, nice....
 
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Personally I think this is all a storm in a teacup. Morrissey refuses to accept the realities of the business. That's his choice, but it does make him look a bit stupid and adept at making the same mistakes over and over again. My guess is Warner would have loved to have him involved but he probably didn't return their calls so they went ahead anyway. They needed it out in time for Christmas obviously.

He's not the only one however. Radiohead have been whinging about EMI releasing a greatest hits after they left them as if it's the biggest crime in the world too. :rolleyes:
 
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Personally, I couldn't care less about his financial situation. I am a fan of his music, not a personal friend, and the fact that he consistently expects us to give a crap suggests that he either considers us to be blind devotees willing to be led off the cliff-face, or else he's just really naive. He cultivates this false persona based on being "different" and "superior" to other artists, as though we're getting a higher-quality and more personal musical experience than we would elsewhere, but at the end of the day he cares just as much about lining his own pockets as Kylie, Elton, Madonna or any of the myriad performers he's bitched about for not being "genuine artists". Fans have every right to be indignant, and to feel more than a little stupid for ever thinking he was anything other than an image-obsessed, celebrity-hungry loner with too much money and not enough friends.

If 'his' music wasn't so good, I'd go elsewhere for entertainment and not bother putting up with his incessant and juvenile diktats.


Coiff.
 
Because they hate him for being richer and more successful than they are. Any mention of money by Morrissey is an excuse for them to shout "Fake! Money Mad! Businessman!". It's all quite comic really.

Well, I'm sorry for being so prolitarian as living on a grotty council estate in South-East London where if you so much as walk down the street you face the possibility of being attacked and mugged in broad daylight. I highly doubt Morrissey has to put up with that day in, day out. So if you will kindly excuse me for being so anti-capitalist for a moment, because I have to shop in Netto while Morrissey swans around with his Waitrose bag.
 
ok..then i will buy the new oasis record..
never mind..;)
 
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I am a bit surprised with some of the harsh comments on this.

You know Moz loves to be in control of the record releases - what, when and how, so this is hardly a surprise.

Also, if you think of it, Moz released ROTT in 2006 and had a great sucessfull tour. Now in 2008 you have Morrissey Greatest Hits and then DVD LIVE at Hollywood Bowl and The Smiths Greatest hits. What does it look like? that he is profiting the moment to get some easy money out of loyal and new fans. Because this is not true he fells the need to say that he has nothing to do with the Warner releases: both the Smiths CD and his live DVD. And I think that this is important.

Now you can make up your minds, buy 1 buy 100 don't buy... it's still your choice.
 
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