tori amos has gone indie. i'm not sure whether she left epic/sony or whether epic/sony dumped her, but tori is now indie. it would seem odd for her to up and leave after being on a label for over 20 years, but stranger things have happened and this is tori we're talking about. she's also got a new album in the works for spring 2009.


http://www.toriamos.com/

Tori has wanted to leave Epic for awhile. She's commented quite a bit recently on the demise of the large record labels & how much she wanted out of her contract, so this news came as no real surprise to me.

Good for her she has wanted out for a while.

This is actually a case of an artist going from majors to indie in which I see no real changes happening. She has always done artistically whatever she wanted to.

yes, which is why i found it odd that she wanted out so badly. having been burned in the past by atlantic, she knew how the major labels operated. yet she still signed with epic/sony. she could've gone indie a long time ago and bypassed epic/sony altogether. it's weird, but as long as she's making music it doesn't really matter.

i hope she releases an album of a different style, with a different instrument, like she did with boys for pele. maybe she can master the harp now. or the thumb piano. i dunno. just something.

^That's true, BUT the Majors themselves have really changed within that time period, too. Due to their current financial/economic woes, I think they are a lot less willing to cover more expensive production costs for somebody like Tori (no matter how great an artist she is) over somebody like the current rap flavor of the day that's getting a million downloads or whatever. I know Tori talked about feeling somewhat lost in the shuffle. I think you will be seeing many of the artists we talk about on here begin to make the shift in coming years.
Also, so many of the Reps who pulled for people like Tori or Liz or many of the people we like & talk about on this forum no longer work for a lot of the majors-I know most everybody I worked with in the record store day have lost jobs due to downsizing.

true, but then the majors continue to sign artists that have no chance of making them much money at all. so who knows what's really going on. i mean bjork is still on a major label. as is steve winwood, who just signed with columbia. jacob dylan is on columbia as well and he hasn't sold well since the 90's. also the cure have manged to put out 2 singles already for an album that's not out yet and have plans to put 2 more out before the album is due. the album itself is a double album. they've kept alanis morissette on a major label and her sales have been sliding downward ever since jagged little pill. much of what the major labels do these days surprises me. i think it's a lot of politics if you ask me.

^That's what I mean about there probably being a lot of changes in the coming years-some of those folk you mentioned may not still be on a major as time passes.
Also, Bjork & The Cure sell a lot of product worldwide, much more than just US sales. Their US contracts are most likely part of a deal with One Little Indian, Suretone, etc (their own smaller labels they are part of overseas-in a sense they have a little more freedom already-but who knows-their US contracts will probably end up being negotiated eventually, too.).
I think Tori actually wrangled out of the contract herself-I don't think it was a matter of Epic being unhappy with her or her product-they would have had to have realized she appealed to a more alternative market when they signed her. I think Tori is just looking ahead at the big picture-that for her career to flourish, she may need to look elsewhere than a major

As long as these indies have enough cash to let them record a cd and let them tour that’s all I need.

I don’t need a Tori doll or anything if you know what I mean. LOL!

^A lot of the merchandise isn't handled directly by the company-usually the management of the artist has a separate contract for merchandising. Merchandise is a big cash cow for many artists, especially people like Tori who have a strong, cult fan base & buy LOTS of t-shirts, tote bags, pins, and other goodies (me included)-both artists & the venues they perform in make some good money off of that merchandise.
Actually, I wish Tori did have a doll...
There is a woman who makes specialty dolls who sent me an email of dolls she made of Kate, Siouxsie & Exene, but, aside from being very expensive, I didn't think they looked like them really, so I didn't buy.

i believe suretone is an u.s. label, as they handle u.s. than overseas artists. the cure don't sell a whole lot of records anymore anywhere really. r.e.m. sell more than them and r.e.m. aren't that big of sellers anymore. steve winwood though just inked a deal a with columbia. i don't know if they're going to kick him off anytime soon. it would seem weird that they would just sign him and then drop him. he's been out of the mainstream for so long that it was a weird deal to sign him again in the first place. though universal cherry did the same with edie. that deal though i think fell through due to universal cherry falling out.

^ A lot of things can happen & frankly, I don't think a lot of record contracts mean jack anymore. The majors (for the most part) are looking at the short term rather than the long term.
I don't really keep up with sales figures anymore-I don't have to now that I am out of working with the record shop biz-so I honestly don't know (or particularly care) how much the Cure or REM or a lot of groups are selling worldwide. All I know is that I will continue to buy any Cure single, album, item that comes out-Robert has been good to me, so I'll be good to him...
I really can't comment on Winwood-I haven't followed his career for years.

i can't comment on winwood either. i just know that he was out of the limelight and then all of a sudden is back and on a major label. odd, but then major labels are an odd bunch these days. i think they still play an important role in music, but need to regroup, rethink, and reorganize. as for the cure, i quite agree. anybody who puts an album out like wish deserve my full support. i'll support them no matter what they do.

This is good. I think Tori has wanted to go independent for a while and I hope we get a new album in 2009. I doubt she'll change her sound too much, but I'm excited to see what she comes up with.