Chris DeLine

Though most every day we’re given a bit of news recalling a story of how the big players of the recording industry have partaken in some sort of shady business practice, it still comes as a bit of a shock when you read about some of the absurd stuff that goes on. One of the latest shockers for me was hearing how Universal rejected the latest album from the Klaxons… they didn’t can it, they didn’t release it with little accompanied promotion… they said, “re-record your songs to fit how we feel the album should sound.”

It’s far from the first time something like this has happened, and perhaps some of my issue with it is that the band reluctantly agreed to go back into the studio and attempt to “repair” their album. One of the most notable situations that I can remember which paralleled this is that of Kelly Clarkson and her 2007 release My December. The conflict was between Clarkson and Sony-BMG head Clive Davis, with Davis insisting that the songs she had recorded for the album were “too dark” and in turn not marketable. Clarkson stuck it out though, standing by her songs, and the result was an album that went platinum in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. Kind of makes you wonder what will come of the Klaxons’ situation, and whether or not they should have risked their relationship (legal and otherwise) with Universal. For the moment the band has a bit of a shadow cast over it, one that’s typically (at least in my opinion) been better suited for musicians like Sting; those who now have all the financial freedom in the world because they have played it safe and worked with the industry for decades. (link)

The Police “Message in a Bottle”
The Klaxons “It’s Not Over Yet”

[This post was first published by Mashuptown.]