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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

MUSIC — Struggling Record Label at DreamWorks Turns to Net

Despite the slate of industry heavy-hitters at the helm, the music division of DreamWorks SKG has not translated considerable critical acclaim into blowout record sales. After a handful of moderate successes, the DreamWorks Records label finally has one artist edging into the top 10 albums on the Billboard charts. Other than that, the label has very little to show after four years in existence somewhat of a surprise considering the group is overseen by record-industry legend David Geffen, not to mention such well-known executives as Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker. “The music business (at DreamWorks) has been off to a slower start than anticipated,” said Christopher Dixon, a senior media analyst at PaineWebber. “After the George Michael contract (which was signed early in the company’s existence), they haven’t seemed able to expand.” In an effort to pump some life into the music division, DreamWorks Records is turning to the Internet. The label plans to use its Web site to attract new artists, while continuing to focus on acts with long-term potential. “We’re trying to position ourselves as a progressive record label, and this is another step toward doing that,” said Jed Simon, head of new media for DreamWorks Records. Slow, steady development According to Simon, the label’s principals Michael Ostin, Mo Ostin, Lenny Waronker and Michael Goldstone believe that developing promising artists is more important than capitalizing on the latest music trend. “If you look at their track records, they always have and still do believe in artist development,” Simon explained. “The rest of the industry is more of a singles-driven business. We still believe in artist development and feel that ultimately will be the winning strategy.” The company is not ignoring sales, however. “We believe all the records we put out should be commercial successes, that they have an audience,” said Luke Wood, an A & R; executive at DreamWorks Records. “We’re not collecting art.” But some industry observers noted that the label is running out of time to make a commercial impression. “I would think the next two years are going to be very crucial,” said Jay Cooper, an entertainment attorney at Manatt Phelps & Phillips. “At some point, the financial entities will come in and have a review.” The two Ostins, Waronker and Goldstone serve as the four main principals at DreamWorks Records, which eschews titles. The men share the workload and decision-making responsibility, actively participate in artist development and have personally signed artists to the label. Mo Ostin joined DreamWorks after spending 25 years at Warner Bros. Records, where he ultimately served as chief executive. The man who was instrumental in launching the careers of Jimi Hendrix and The Kinks has taken on a chief executive role at the label. Lenny Waronker is a former president of Warner Bros. Records and was previously a top producer. Waronker still signs talent to the DreamWorks label and serves in a co-CEO capacity with Ostin. Michael Ostin, Mo’s son, served as senior vice president of A & R; for Warner Bros. and has recently taken on handling some of the label’s day-to-day operations, similar to a company’s president. Goldstone was previously vice president of A & R; at Epic Records, a label under Sony, and serves as the equivalent of an executive vice president. Geffen provides ultimate strategy, influence, and is best known for his ability to close deals for the company. In its four years, DreamWorks Records has signed a number of critically acclaimed musicians Rufus Wainwright, Elliott Smith and Randy Newman among them. Last year, the label had just three albums that earned industry distinctions for sales. Powerman 5000’s rock album “Tonight the Stars Revolt” went platinum, selling more than 1 million copies, while albums by rockers Buckcherry and urban artist Dave Hollister earned gold-record designations, selling more than 500,000 copies each. Observers are carefully watching newcomer Papa Roach, which is currently heating up on the Billboard charts and is considered the label’s biggest hit to date. “The industry is always very skeptical. (DreamWorks Records) has been around four years, they’ve put out a lot of records but have had limited success,” said David Katznelson, a former vice president of A & R; for Warner Bros., who worked with the Ostins and Waronker during their tenures there. “But if you look at it on a growth chart, they had two hits last year, and they currently have their biggest hit yet.” The other DreamWorks albums on the list of Billboard’s top 200 selling albums as of last week were both under the company’s Nashville label: a comedy release by Jeff Foxworthy and a country release from Toby Keith. But the record label’s performance is lackluster when compared with DreamWorks’ success with recent films. “American Beauty” swept the Academy Awards earlier this year, “Saving Private Ryan” earned critical acclaim as well as big box-office sales, and “Chicken Run” and “Gladiator” are currently hot offerings. Analyst’s assessment “Clearly, DreamWorks’ success is in the motion picture business,” Dixon said. “Perhaps this new Web site launch and refocusing will act as a catalyst to get the music business moving again.” The newest online venture at DreamWorks Records is the A & R; development site at www.DreamWorksDigital.com, which will focus on signing promising artists to the DreamWorks Records label. Launching the digital effort became increasingly important to DreamWorks executives over the past year or two. “We realized a lot of our musicians and artists were sending us MP3 or digital files or putting up their work on (a Web site) so we could hear demos,” Wood said. “It seemed asinine that we couldn’t communicate with unsigned artists in the same way. We thought, ‘We should already be there because the artists are already there.'” DreamWorks will begin selling MP3 downloads of singles this summer, and by the end of the year will likely offer full-length albums online.

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