Harvest ends contract with Morrissey - TTY

Re: Harvest Ends Contract with Morrissey - TTY

Moontastic with the name there, buddy. Seeya in 20 minutes.

 

[hand in glove]

Depressing. Just...depressing. I hope he can find another label soon...

 

[bored]

Also if Moz signed a 2 album deal doesn't that contract have to be fulfilled? Or does that not apply if it's the label who wants out?

I wouldn't be surprised if it had a lot of language in it that gave Harvest and out after 1 album or a bunch of requirements before the second album became guaranteed. These are the kind of things that end up in sports contracts all the time. A player will sign a 4 year deal for $40 million but the last 2 years only happen if the player participates in 80% of the games in the first 2 years or something along those lines.

There could have been minimum sales figures to reach that had nothing to do with chart position. There could have been artist promotion requirements that weren't met.

Unless we see the contract we won't know but I have a feeling it was something like this.

On the flip side, there could have been stipulations on what Harvest would provide and they might not have done those things in which case Morrissey could consider litigation.

I think Harvest did try a little. The spoken word videos were a different way to promote the album. I'm not saying it's the best but it was something. Perhaps Morrissey did those on his own. No clue.

I thought having 4 singles all with the same art work as the album was lazy. Why did that happen? No idea.

We might hear some stories here and there but it is unlikely we will ever know the truth.

 

[Orson Swells]

Re: Harvest Ends Contract with Morrissey - TTY

A hit will already have been ordered. Expect Steve Barnett to be taken out very shortly.

 

[bored]

And none for the band...

Ok, some for Matt and Gustavo.

I was actually including band, studio, producers, engineers, printing hard media and all that into the price of the album.

EDIT: I actually think Boz and Jesse are excellent musicians and I do like them live. I just don't think they bring what Morrissey needs to the studio. When the best guitar solo on the album is from your keyboard player you might want to reconsider your song writers.

 

[Anonymous]

If this is the only option for Morrissey - to get back with Marr - then he/they should follow the brilliant Grant McLennan/Robert Forster example. The Go Betweens split around the same time as The Smiths, but McLennan and Forster - while putting out great solo albums themselves - also performed here and there together throughout the '90s as "Forster and McLennan".
They eventually reformed The Go-Betweens (with new band members) in the early 2000s and released some absolutely wunderbar albums/singles that were as great as anything they did in the '80s (which was pretty pretty pretty great itself).
Unfortunately, McLennan died of a heart-attack and it was all over, but I always thought their example of still performing together and always maintaining their artistic brilliance was so great and a beautiful antidote to the cliched band splitting up and never speaking again acrimony bullshit that The Smiths and so many other bands have gone through.

Read the David Nichols biography of The Go Betweens, Moz... then give Johnny a call!!!

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how contracts work but maybe Morrissey demands a big amount of dough off the label in advance and the return was looking pretty grim for Harvest so they cut ties early?
That would explain why it's been hard for him to get a contract for years (big demands his end and prospect of relatively small return the other side).

 

[keene]

You keep going back to this self-regarding "They don't understand Morrissey like what I does" pissing contest. It's incredibly juvenile.
Clearly, to anyone with eyes and a modicum of intelligence, Morrissey did not "did his best" - he did not in fact did his best at all. And those videos were not artistic, for God's sake man, we're Morrissey fans because we have a higher standard, because Morrissey set a higher artistic standard. When he puts out something that was clearly knocked off on the fly like those godawful videos, don't make out it's up to his usual standard - that's doing Morrissey a great disservice...

Just look at what hits the top of the charts.....Only "Lana Del Rey"....sings about love, life and death....as much as Morrissey. She's hit the top because she's "Young and Beautiful".

When's she's 55....will she get away with it? I explained why I thought he did his best.....I stand by that.

"The teenagers that love you.....will wake up, yawn and kill you".....

Don't insult my intelligence....I didn't do it to you.

 

[Kewpie]

Disappointing but honestly I don't blame them. Fair enough they didn't put a lot of effort into the promotion but Morrissey contributed almost zero to it. Morrissey didn't even use illness as an excuse. He said he had no offers of promotion from anyone else. He blames the label and he blames media for not handing him promotions on a plate. f*** if I had his work ethic I'd have been sacked from every job I'd ever done. And that's basically what this is, sacking.

This is where he needs to talk to Amanda Palmer about that kickstarter option.

She knows how to do it and would be able to set aside some of the money for recording, some for promotion and some for some profit.

It would be a huge success with the right person leading it. The budget would be there. He'd have nothing to complain about.

pokey pointed out earlier the reason for no DIY route is, there is no one to blame if things go wrong.
Majority of us know that from the beginning of his career he often puts the blame on others, not himself.

 

[Deleted member 1074]

Ok, some for Matt and Gustavo.

I was actually including band, studio, producers, engineers, printing hard media and all that into the price of the album.

I was referring to the fact Amanda Palmer has received criticism over her Kickstarter campaign because she essentially raised a million dollars and then crowdsourced members of her backing band for free when she went on tour.

 

[Anonymous]

usual cries of "this is the end", "no one will touch him again", "career over" - in fact exactly what the same people have been posting on here for close to ten years now, and it STILL hasn't happened! for as long as he wants to make music, he will continue to find deals, continue to sell out shows (even with his history of cancellations), despite and in spite of the small pocket of hatred on here. get over it = he is one of those artists like Bowie who is critic-proof and nothing you can say or do will ever make any difference to his career.

 

[Layne]

Maybe this is why Morrissey has been lying low. Chatting with Marr about a potential reunion.

Let's face it, it would be the best route to go. With the new album Morrissey has put a nice bow on his solo career and the best move would be to reform the Smiths. I'm not saying do it right now but if he wants to make any kind of serious stab at impacting the records world again he will need Johnny Marr. And to be honest if Johnny wants to make a real dent he needs Morrissey.

 

[Deleted member 1074]

I wonder if he'll turn down Sony this time?

 

[bored]

pokey pointed out earlier the reason for no DIY route is, there is no one to blame if things go wrong.
Majority of us know that from the beginning of his career he often puts the blame on others, not himself.

I think the DIY route is better for Morrissey because the record labels don't want to do the work. Amanda Palmer would want to do everything to make this succeed.

It wouldn't really be DIY. It would be raise funds yourself and then pass it on to someone who can use that money properly.

 

[bored]

I was referring to the fact Amanda Palmer has received criticism over her Kickstarter campaign because she essentially raised a million dollars and then crowdsourced members of her backing band for free when she went on tour.

Ahh.. I didn't read too much into what happened in the long run with that. I'm not much of a Dresden Dolls fan.

 

[Johnny Barleycorn]

Your suggestion was it was all Morrissey's fault when in fact he delivered an excellent album

Your suggestion was it was all Morrissey's fault when in fact he delivered an excellent album

Well, of course I wouldn't personally consider it an excellent album. It is okay. It has its moments. In a way it doesn't matter if it is one or the other or neither. It wasn't a commercial success and that was the idea, after all. If it wasn't the point he might just have well burnt off a couple of CDs and sent them to a few acquaintances.

I stand by my original score of a seven. Most of that is for trying, rather than succeeding. The voice was great. The band and production were good. The material was just slightly lacking. There was no obvious lead off single, which didn't help. Harvest had certain commercial expectations and for whatever reason they were not met. If he was a joy to work with perhaps that might have swung another album. Do you think he might be a joy to work with? No, me neither.

I know my opinion is not popular in certain quarters, but so far no-one seems greatly surprised that Harvest pulled the plug. There were clearly problems with the entire project. The only difference is I think those issues started with the songs and others think it started with the promotion.

It's all pretty moot at this stage. World Peace Did No Business.

 

[bored]

Maybe this is why Morrissey has been lying low. Chatting with Marr about a potential reunion.

Let's face it, it would be the best route to go. With the new album Morrissey has put a nice bow on his solo career and the best move would be to reform the Smiths. I'm not saying do it right now but if he wants to make any kind of serious stab at impacting the records world again he will need Johnny Marr. And to be honest if Johnny wants to make a real dent he needs Morrissey.

I think Morrissey would see this as invalidating his entire solo career. If he made an amazing album that bookended Viva Hate and World Peace between Strangeways and Moz/Marr Together it would make people say, "See, he wasted all those years doing less than he could have done."

 

[Anonymous]

Morrissey 10 Point Recovery Strategy:

1. Go into the studio and make a new album full of excellent songs with superb lyrics asap
2. Start dating super-beard Taylor Swift --> get photo into the tabs
3. Do a collaboration with Psy
4. Go round to all the majors with new album
5. Make an offer to the head of Sony that he can't refuse
6. Sign with Sony
7. Make an appearance on Alan Carr
8. Say something "shocking" about the Royal Family
9. Release a single that people actually want to buy with some decent artwork and exclusive b-sides
10. Phone Johnny Marr...

 

[Anonymous]

Just look at what hits the top of the charts.....Only "Lana Del Rey"....sings about love, life and death....as much as Morrissey. She's hit the top because she's "Young and Beautiful".

When's she's 55....will she get away with it? I explained why I thought he did his best.....I stand by that.

"The teenagers that love you.....will wake up, yawn and kill you".....

Don't insult my intelligence....I didn't do it to you.

Everyone writes about love, life and death. What do you think most pop songs are about, fruit and veg?

 

[Anonymous]

usual cries of "this is the end", "no one will touch him again", "career over" - in fact exactly what the same people have been posting on here for close to ten years now, and it STILL hasn't happened! for as long as he wants to make music, he will continue to find deals, continue to sell out shows (even with his history of cancellations), despite and in spite of the small pocket of hatred on here. get over it = he is one of those artists like Bowie who is critic-proof and nothing you can say or do will ever make any difference to his career.

"Critic proof"???
Since when has Morrissey released something that the critics didn't drool over? He's just been dropped by his label three weeks after his first album in five years was released. It's impossible to see that as anything other than a catastrophic failure.

 

[CrystalGeezer]

Re: Harvest Ends Contract with Morrissey - TTY

A hit will already have been ordered. Expect Steve Barnett to be taken out very shortly.

Hmmmmm.