Il sito dello Wall Street Journal ha pubblicato un bell'articolo con intervista su Bruce Lundvall, celebre amministratore delegato della Blue Note, un grande scopritore di talenti e personaggio molto rispettato nell'ambiente musicale ed in particolare nel jazz.
Mr. Lundvall's story has many chapters. Most recently, he was chief executive of the historic Blue Note label, EMI's leading North American division. Now, after a 50-year career that began in the marketing department of Columbia Records, Mr. Lundvall is shifting to a part-time position with a permanent honorific.
"I'm now chairman emeritus," he says. "At 74, you can't go on forever, just working all the time. . . . The main thing I'm doing now is finding talented people that we'd like to sign to Blue Note."
Mr. Lundvall is one of the industry's best-loved anomalies. He has run a number of record labels of international scope, yet his speciality is one-on-one artist development, identifying musical talent and helping guide it to maturity. He's the product of a major-label system that still draws the scorn of many musicians (often deservedly so), yet he remains an insider with an uncommon level of respect in the musical community.
"You really can't find anyone to say anything bad about Bruce," says the singer/pianist Ms. Jones, whose Blue Note audition took place on Mr. Lundvall's office piano. "He'll say yes to whatever you want to do unless he thinks it's bad artistically." ("Dr. Yes" is one of his nicknames.)
To many, Mr. Lundvall's exit from Blue Note's day-to-day operations, officially announced earlier this year, symbolizes the forced transition of an entire industry. Rocker-songwriter Mr. Marx says: "I know Bruce has been very frustrated in the changes that have eliminated this thing called 'artist development.' The way the industry is heading, it's really not the kind of thing that Bruce would want to be a big part of anyway."
Mr. Lundvall's words express as much: "This is the most challenging time I've ever seen in what used to be called the record business, now the digital music business. People download and don't want hard copies of music. Jazz and classical buyers will probably help keep the physical formats going for a long time, but the idea is to try and monetize the digital world. It's not easy to make a lot of money in this business anymore."
In fact, the recorded-music industry is facing challenges unlike any in its 120-year history, including a 10-year slide in sales of CDs. In a once-thriving business rife with labels of all sizes, only four major companies remain—Sony, Universal, Warner and EMI. Blue Note's situation is compounded by the fact that its parent, EMI, now owned by the U.K.-based investment firm Terra Firma, is suffering dire and rather public credit woes.
"I read about it but don't get involved," Mr. Lundvall says when asked about EMI's owners and their top man, Guy Hands. "I've been with EMI a long time now—25 years—I've had a lot of different bosses . . . Guy's a very brilliant man, that's for sure."
L'articolo integrale si può leggere a qeusto link.
Mr. Lundvall's story has many chapters. Most recently, he was chief executive of the historic Blue Note label, EMI's leading North American division. Now, after a 50-year career that began in the marketing department of Columbia Records, Mr. Lundvall is shifting to a part-time position with a permanent honorific.
"I'm now chairman emeritus," he says. "At 74, you can't go on forever, just working all the time. . . . The main thing I'm doing now is finding talented people that we'd like to sign to Blue Note."
Mr. Lundvall is one of the industry's best-loved anomalies. He has run a number of record labels of international scope, yet his speciality is one-on-one artist development, identifying musical talent and helping guide it to maturity. He's the product of a major-label system that still draws the scorn of many musicians (often deservedly so), yet he remains an insider with an uncommon level of respect in the musical community.
"You really can't find anyone to say anything bad about Bruce," says the singer/pianist Ms. Jones, whose Blue Note audition took place on Mr. Lundvall's office piano. "He'll say yes to whatever you want to do unless he thinks it's bad artistically." ("Dr. Yes" is one of his nicknames.)
To many, Mr. Lundvall's exit from Blue Note's day-to-day operations, officially announced earlier this year, symbolizes the forced transition of an entire industry. Rocker-songwriter Mr. Marx says: "I know Bruce has been very frustrated in the changes that have eliminated this thing called 'artist development.' The way the industry is heading, it's really not the kind of thing that Bruce would want to be a big part of anyway."
Mr. Lundvall's words express as much: "This is the most challenging time I've ever seen in what used to be called the record business, now the digital music business. People download and don't want hard copies of music. Jazz and classical buyers will probably help keep the physical formats going for a long time, but the idea is to try and monetize the digital world. It's not easy to make a lot of money in this business anymore."
In fact, the recorded-music industry is facing challenges unlike any in its 120-year history, including a 10-year slide in sales of CDs. In a once-thriving business rife with labels of all sizes, only four major companies remain—Sony, Universal, Warner and EMI. Blue Note's situation is compounded by the fact that its parent, EMI, now owned by the U.K.-based investment firm Terra Firma, is suffering dire and rather public credit woes.
"I read about it but don't get involved," Mr. Lundvall says when asked about EMI's owners and their top man, Guy Hands. "I've been with EMI a long time now—25 years—I've had a lot of different bosses . . . Guy's a very brilliant man, that's for sure."
L'articolo integrale si può leggere a qeusto link.
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