Hayleys Own Label?.

[stephen]

Hi all,
Just worried by the lack of publicity and supply of Hayley`s current album and indeed the short shelf life of River of Dreams in UK stores. It makes me concerned for Hayley`s future with Decca.Just compare to the number of tv adverts for Katherine Jenkins and Faryl in contrast, I have not yet seen one for Hayley.Hayley`s own label may be the way forward?.

Stephen.

[Libby]

Would that really help? Can you give examples of artists who have done that, and whether they are successful with it?

[mihizawi]

Well, I am not really into how the recording business works, I prefer to enjoy the final product, XD.

But I would rather think owning a label and making it work is not an easy work. Hayley's a singer, not a business-woman, XD, so I don't think it would be a good idea, she has got enough work and preassure without that. I think, besides how they are miss-promoting her, I think Decca is a good label for Hayley... What other labels are there that would be suitable for Hayley's style?

Michal

P.S. I was about to say something about Hayley not being suitable for, for example, Deutsche Grammophon, but I did some research and found out it was owned by the same company... lol

[Dave]

Hello Stephen and everyone,

I am no expert but don't think it would help at all for Hayley to sign for a minor label or try to do it herself. The best chance of selling records and helping your "visibility" in most cases is to be signed to a major label such as Decca and I agree with Michal that Decca is probably the best one for Hayley. Having a continuing recording career does of course help to sell concerts and other types of work in the music business... and it works the other way, too.

That doesn't mean Decca are above criticism, they have in my opinion made a few blunders along the way and one seems to have been Winter Magic in the UK (though we may never know all the facts). But I don't think any of this should be seen as an indication that Hayley will be dropped or that she is looking to change labels or record companies, I have seen no evidence for either of these things.

Classical record labels like Deutsche Grammophon and Decca (both Decca Group/Universal) are used to handling relatively low volume CD releases and many artists sustain long term and reasonably successful recording careers with them, it's mainly a question of not spending too much on production, promotion or excessive CD pressing in relation to the anticipated income. Having lots of medium to low selling classical or similar artists seems to make it financially worthwhile for the Decca label group to continue doing this. Their business model seems to be very different from, say, Sony and the Cowell stable, who will drop an artist with falling sales like a hot potato, often after album no. 2.

My guess is that Hayley will continue to have a recording future with Decca as long as she wants it and can sustain her career primarily from other sources of income (concerts & other work) and I've seen nothing to indicate otherwise. Her days of selling hundreds of thousands of CDs per release may be over but not, I think, her recording career, far from it.

Dave

[simon]

Without any pretense to having any knowledge about the music industry and its internal workings, I think the days of selling hundreds of thousands of CDs per release are over for most artists, not just Hayley!

This is of course just an educated case: there is a real crisis with "physical" album sales within the music industry due to digitising (legitimate or otherwise) whereby, in theory, all you need is 'one' source copy: present company excluded since we all love Hayley and anything with her name on it must be collected and archived forever.

But yeah, I hide right behind my ignorance and realise that this probably has nothing to do with signing a label and won't change the status quo of CD's dying and MP3 rising, to be very high level and abstract it!

Personal (flawed) opinion? I think Hayley is doing wonderfully well against the wider scheme of things with the small niche singers of her talent fill considering the other things that are considered "popular" music.

That said, there's always room for improvement and Decca doesn't sound like a sacred cow.

[Elliot Kane]

Decca is more like a silly cow than a sacred cow, IMO, at least as regards Winter Magic. Putting out Faryl's album and Hayley's on the same day was very foolish, IMO, especially given the current parlous state of the economy. Putting Hayley's out with virtually no publicity means sales are just not going to be there, of course.

I've seen other artists I like have their efforts strangled in this way before and it's never pretty. No matter how good the artist, no-one can buy an album if they don't know it even exists.

As for Hayley getting her own label - not a good idea. It's a tremendous gamble for anyone who knows the marketing side of the industry inside and out right now, let alone an artist who needs to concentrate on their own career.

I doubt Hayley is exactly poor as a church mouse, but equally I am certain she couldn't afford the kind of worldwide publicity a major album release ideally needs.

[simon]

Come to think of it: I wouldn't even know about Winter Magic if I wasn't already a fan. I've seen nadda anywhere. I don't watch TV mind you. In fact, I found out about Hayley originally on random Youtube videos...

I wouldn't know anything about Hayley's piggy bank, but Hayley wouldn't necessarily need to go for "worldwide publicity". She couldn't do worse than Decca if what your saying is true about the dual artist release and zero publicity for Winter Magic.

Then again, I reiterate: I've got about as much knowledge about how the music industry works as I do about what I'm having for lunch tomorrow...

[Jillian]

Hi Dave,

I guess you're right. Unless Hayley gets a particularly good offer from somewhere else, Decca is probably where she'll stay. Is the next album the last one on her contract?

Hopefully Decca will pull their socks up with the next album. At the moment it rather seems like they've painted themselves into a corner with album releases.

That said, the 'buzz' created by joining a fresh label with a clean slate could do Hayley some good. It just seems like Decca is so uninspired. But like you said, there's no one else out there that really does Classical releases.

[stephen]

Hi all,
I might have stired up a hornets nest hear and certainly there is some deep thinking.I was perhaps looking on the dark side if Decca did not continue with Hayley and no other major label was available.In response to libby I know Charlie Landsborough has gone back to his own label after being with Ritz etc. His albums have charted over recent years however,
when I wanted to buy his lattest album I could only find it on his website .The way music is sold is constantly changing and I just concerned for the lack of publicity.

Stephen.

[martindn]

Hi Stephen,

You are right to be concerned. A nagging thought in the back of my mind is that Decca won't want to continue with Hayley when her current contract ends. The lack of promotion perhaps is an indication that they have gone as far as they can together. Decca don't know what to do with Hayley, and don't really understand or believe in her, and she is not making the inroads that her talent deserves.
I am not suggesting Sony for a minute, I can't see that working. She might get more promotion on some of Simon Cowell's protracted adverts like the X Factor, but might find it hard to do what she wants to do, and what I for one would like her to do, artistically.
She might have fitted with Gary Barlow if Camilla hadn't got there first, Gary doesn't need them both. But Camilla seems to me to be very influenced by Hayley, rather than original, so who knows.
Doing her own thing would suit Hayley I'm sure. But setting up like than needs money.

Martin

[Dave]

Dec 7, 2009 3:33:41 GMT Jillian said:

Is the next album the last one on her contract?

Hi Jillian,

We know that Hayley renegotiated her contract in about 2005 and I don't think any information about that has ever been revealed, so we have no idea when it ends, how many albums are involved, or even if a particular number of albums is specified.

Dec 7, 2009 23:22:04 GMT martindn said:

Hi Stephen,

You are right to be concerned. A nagging thought in the back of my mind is that Decca won't want to continue with Hayley when her current contract ends.

Hello Martin, Stephen and everyone,

As I have mentioned above in reply to Jillian, we have no information about Hayley's current recording contract, therefore any discussion about what happens afterwards can be no more than speculation which is likely to get nowhere fast.

The good news is that since this thread was started, we have learned that Hayley will be recording a new album in 2010 and I'm sure that we are all delighted about it. I have no doubt that it will be a Decca release.

So as this thread has been overtaken by events, I'm going to lock it now - but we are quite likely to start a new one soon to discuss the 2010 album, so watch that space.

Cheers, Dave