Did EC sign a record deal with EMI? For the longest time, it felt like he was a free agent, post UMe, but is he now under contract with EMI? If so, I wonder for how long? And what kind of deal it is?
I'm only curious given that his last two deals, with Warners and then with Polygram-which-became-UMe, were announced with such fanfare. The Boy Named If was on Capitol Records, so has he been EMI for several LPs now?
Elvis on EMI?
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sweetest punch
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Re: Elvis on EMI?
EMI and Capitol Records are both labels from the Universal Music Group.
He has renewed his record deal with Universal for his backcatalogue and his new records in 2019.
From what I understand is that in this deal he owns the master recordings and licenses them to Universal:
https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/el ... w-9451791/
Punch the 'Clockface': Elvis Costello On Making Albums In a Streaming World
The legend's new album sounds both current and timeless — and he’s looking back at his catalog, too.
(...)
You own a lot of your master recordings. How important is that to you?
I own all of my albums except the ones made for Warner [from 1989 to 1996]. The ones I’ve recorded for Universal [starting in the late ‘90s] will revert to me and I own the ones before Blood and Chocolate, as well as my publishing. The kind of music I make doesn’t sell a lot of copies, and I’m not fantastically wealthy, partly because I’ve always invested what I have made into making more music or into fantastic follies like the “Spectacular Spinning Songbook” [the 1986 and 2011 tours on which Costello decided which songs to play by spinning a giant wheel onstage]. But I like the danger and the uncertainty. And the idea that there’s an audience for music I made a long time ago as well as music I’m making now is a wonderful thing.
At the same time, my catalog has been in some disarray for a number of years.
Are you planning to address that?
Recently I went to a meeting at a record company for the first time since the ’90s [at Universal, which last year renewed its global license deal for most of Costello’s recordings]. We began with the idea that if we were going to do another edition [of reissues], we couldn’t simply issue the records again. And I realized that, who better than the person who wrote the songs to tell you what else is there – things that I never released, live recordings. Let’s face it: This is now 40 years [after Costello’s early albums]. I can’t imagine there being another edition of releases after this one. And the first will be a six-record set based on “Armed Forces.”
He has renewed his record deal with Universal for his backcatalogue and his new records in 2019.
From what I understand is that in this deal he owns the master recordings and licenses them to Universal:
https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/el ... w-9451791/
Punch the 'Clockface': Elvis Costello On Making Albums In a Streaming World
The legend's new album sounds both current and timeless — and he’s looking back at his catalog, too.
(...)
You own a lot of your master recordings. How important is that to you?
I own all of my albums except the ones made for Warner [from 1989 to 1996]. The ones I’ve recorded for Universal [starting in the late ‘90s] will revert to me and I own the ones before Blood and Chocolate, as well as my publishing. The kind of music I make doesn’t sell a lot of copies, and I’m not fantastically wealthy, partly because I’ve always invested what I have made into making more music or into fantastic follies like the “Spectacular Spinning Songbook” [the 1986 and 2011 tours on which Costello decided which songs to play by spinning a giant wheel onstage]. But I like the danger and the uncertainty. And the idea that there’s an audience for music I made a long time ago as well as music I’m making now is a wonderful thing.
At the same time, my catalog has been in some disarray for a number of years.
Are you planning to address that?
Recently I went to a meeting at a record company for the first time since the ’90s [at Universal, which last year renewed its global license deal for most of Costello’s recordings]. We began with the idea that if we were going to do another edition [of reissues], we couldn’t simply issue the records again. And I realized that, who better than the person who wrote the songs to tell you what else is there – things that I never released, live recordings. Let’s face it: This is now 40 years [after Costello’s early albums]. I can’t imagine there being another edition of releases after this one. And the first will be a six-record set based on “Armed Forces.”
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.