2009] 360° Contracts in the Music Industry 423
Only six years after the Robbie Williams deal, the 360 deal is
becoming typical, “used by all the major record labels.”
175
Producer Josh
Abraham commented on the model’s rise to prominence: “Five or eight
years ago an eyebrow would be raised. . . . Now, it’s everywhere. You can’t
talk about what a deal looks like without seeing a 360 deal.”
176
Monte
Lipman, president of Universal Republic Records, echoes this idea, stating,
“I don’t think there’s a deal being made today where the 360 model doesn’t
come up.”
177
The growing influence of 360 deals is apparent in the internal
reorganizations of record companies. For example, as it wavered on the
verge of collapse, WMG purchased the nation’s largest music management
firm, Front Line Management.
178
This investment shows that WMG aims
to expand its horizons to help develop and capitalize on its artists. As Edgar
Bronfman Jr., WMG’s CEO, stated in November, 2007, “We’re not going
to continue to sign artists for recorded music revenue only.”
179
Another
example is Universal’s purchase of Sanctuary, a “struggling British label
with a management arm that represents musicians including Elton John and
Robert Plant,” which also owns a merchandising company.
180
B. P
ROMOTER-BASED 360 DEALS
Record labels are not the only businesses using the new model; tour
promoter Live Nation has also begun drafting its own 360 deals under its
new Live Artists division, formed in 2007. A spin-off of media
conglomerate Clear Channel, Live Nation itself is relatively new, having
begun to operate independently
181
from its parent corporation in 2005.
182
Analysts recognized the potential of the live events promoter and its stock
price rose twenty-five percent within two weeks of its issuance.
183
Live
Nation immediately began positioning itself as a leader of organizing high-
profile events and international tours. For example, the company bought
over one hundred venues internationally, including the House of Blues
175
Leeds, Band as Brand, supra note 170.
176
Id.
177
Janet Morrissey, If It’s Retail, Is It Still Rock?, N.Y. TIMES, Oct. 28, 2007, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/business/28rockers.html.
178
See Roger Friedman, Warner Music No Longer a Record Company, FOXNEWS.COM, Nov. 30, 2007,
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,314102,00.html#4; see also WMG May Buy Major Management
Firm, H
YPEBOT.COM, Apr. 19, 2007,
http://hypebot.typepad.com/hypebot/2007/04/wmg_may_buy_maj.html.
179
Friedman, supra note 178.
180
A Change of Tune, supra note 14; John Hayward, Universal Sanctuary Bid Approved,
BILLBOARD.BIZ, June 15, 2007,
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3ic5575a8c4f61aadd8d5ea2d7fde1fdee; see
also Eliot Van Buskirk, New Type of Record Label Handles Touring, Publishing, Merchandise, W
IRED,
Sept. 20, 2007, http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/09/new-type-of-rec.html.
181
Although Live Nation, which used to be Clear Channel Entertainment, officially separated from
Clear Channel, there is still considerable overlap in the boards of directors of the two companies. See
Live Nation, Corporate Governance: Board of Directors, http://phx.corporate-
ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=194146&p=irol-govBoard; Clear Channel, Corporate: Executives,
http://www.clearchannel.com/Corporate/PressRelease.aspx?PressReleaseID=1168&p=hidden.
182
See Live Nation, supra note 51.
183
Paul R. La Monica, Live Nation: A Hot Ticket?, CNNMONEY.COM, Jan. 4, 2006,
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/04/commentary/mediabiz/index.htm.