Record labels may think they own the artists they have on their books, but they don’t. And they also can’t license the artists’ music out to companies and campaigns without approval from the artist themselves. Franz Ferdinand have had to remind Epic of this.

According to NME, Franz Ferdinand’s U.S. label Epic, part of Sony Music, allowed one of the band’s tracks to appear on a Web site for fast food chain McDonald’s. Lead singer Alex Kapranos wasn’t too happy when he found out and called Epic and Sony all the names he could think of.

In this day and age when record sales are down, artists have to do more than just record an album and hope it sells by the bucket load in order to survive. Instead they have to sell merchandising, gig all year round, and get their music out there in all manner of other ways.

One method is to license tracks for use in adverts, which can be a very profitable way to go about it. Just ask Moby, who famously licensed every single track on his Play album. He consequently made a mint but it’s now impossible to listen to that …read more

Franz Ferdinand were, for a time, my favorite British band. And then I got over them. Big time. Their self-titled debut album worked a treat, coupling traditional guitar music with a totally new sound that lifted them above similar bands.
They therefore deserved to win the 2004 Mercury Music Prize, and the chart success they had with Take Me Out, The Dark of the Matinée, and This Fire. And then they released their second album and it left me a little cold.
I don’t know why, maybe it was the fact that Franz had been such a breath of fresh air that …read more

Dizzee Rascal may be heading for his first number one single in the British charts as his new song, Dance Wiv Me, is sitting at the top of the midweek charts. The song is a collaboration with fellow Brit sensation Calvin Harris, and is the first release on Dizzee’s own Dirtee Stank record label.
Dizzee Rascal is a rarity in being not only a successful British rapper, but also an artist who seems to command respect from all different corners of the musical landscape. This has helped Dizzee have success beyond the demographic you would imagine him to.
He spoke to Radio …read more