Business - Written Tuesday, June 12, 2007 by Denis Hancock - 0 Comments

Paul McCartney is still needed at 64

Paul McCartney’s resume in the ol’ music business is pretty good – 60 gold discs, 100 million singles sold, and recognized by the Guinness Book of World records as the most successful musician and composer in popular-music history (apparently, there are more successful musicians in unpopular-music history that he hasn’t trumped yet). Paul’s now 64, which is an age he had some concerns about many years ago. Would he still be needed – and my goodness, who would feed him?  

Well interestingly enough, Paul’s now taking a new direction in order to put bread on the table and stay relevent – this year he ended his relationship with Capitol Records/ EMI that began in 1962, hooked up with Starbuck’s new Hear Music label, is unlocking the new new album (and the rest of his solo catalog) for digital downloading, and even debuting videos for his new song on YouTube for goodness sake. All this zaniness has the makings of a late(r)-life crisis – you know, that is if it didn’t make so much sense and all.

Here’s some of my favorite quotes from Paul in regards to this decision:

“I was bored with the old record company’s jaded view”

“They’re very confused, and they will admit it themselves: that this is a new world, and they’re a little bit at a loss as to what to do. So they’ve got millions of dollars and X budget … for them to come up with boring ways — because they’ve been at it for so long — to what they call ‘market’ it. And I find that all a bit disturbing.“I write it, I play it, I record it, and that’s all fun. And you go to the record company, and it gets very boring. You sit around in rooms with people, and you’re almost falling asleep” — he rolls his head down midchest —”and they’re almost falling asleep.”

Yup, that sums up the major record labels pretty good – the dinosaurs, the asteroids, falling asleep at the table and what not. The question now is how many artists will follow Paul’s lead – because if the industry is going to change, he’s going to need a little help from his friends.