Katherine Returns to Decca

[Jillian]

Well this is a turn up for the books... Katherine Jenkins has returned to Decca.

After all the issues Katherine had with Decca re-releasing her back- back-catalogue, it seems that they've offered her the best deal and she's returning to them.

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2407979/Katherines-1-500-make-pay-cut-She-lands-new-record-deal--kiss-goodbye-massive-beauty-allowance.html

Classical superstar Katherine Jenkins has signed a new record deal – but has been forced to take a hefty pay cut.

The Welsh mezzo soprano left Warner Music when her £5.8 million deal expired earlier this year.

Not only will her new contract be worth substantially less, but the 33-year-old will almost certainly lose the £1,500 a day Warner is said to have spent on hair styling and make-up staff to prepare her for promotional and live events.

It was reported that her demands were the final straw for the label, which lost an estimated £2 million on her deal – although she has denied acting like a ‘diva’.

Katherine has now agreed to return to the company where she started her career in 2004, Universal’s Decca label.

But music industry sources have told The Mail on Sunday the new deal is worth much less than her previous record-breaking contract, signed in 2008.

One insider said: ‘The new deal is a substantial sum, but it doesn’t match up with the last one in terms of the amount of cash on the table.

‘The last deal was huge, but realistically that was never going to happen again. The industry has changed a lot.’

Katherine’s first album, Premiere, was the fastest-selling classical CD ever, shifting 30,000 copies in its first week.
But her last album, This is Christmas, peaked at only No 26 on the UK album charts.

The singer’s representatives refused to comment on her new deal, expected to be formally announced in the new year.
But on Tuesday, Katherine dropped a hint on Twitter, posting: ‘Happy Day.’

I think this is really quite interesting in respect of some of the issues we've had with Decca's handling and general approach with Hushabye for Hayley.

[Dave]

Hi Jillian,

I have mixed feelings about this in case it impacts on Hayley - otherwise it wouldn't have mattered to me where Katherine had her latest contract.

Previously, Katherine and Hayley were signed up to different labels within Universal Music, Universal Classics & Jazz and Decca, respectively. Their subsequent merger was I think a full merger but although it's all called Decca now, I think UCJ may have been the larger label at the time. As to who's running the show, the old UCJ people, original Decca people or a new lot, I have no idea.

We'll just have to wait and see what effect if any this has on Hayley, but it may take some time for things to become clear.

Cheers,

Dave

[Jillian]

The media certainly made out that Katherine's originally split with Decca wasn't exactly on good terms... Obviously things have now changed and Decca think that Katherine will be profitable for them -- which I'm sure she will be.

It's also interesting that in the aftermath of her Decca split, Katherine also split with Brian Lane, who is now Hayley's manager.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1208210/Not-sweet-looks-She-insists-shes-just-girl-Valleys-Katherine-Jenkins-play-diva-.html

In respect of the impact it has on Hayley... well, I'll be a bit peeved if they're promising Katherine a packet of money and lots of opportunities for a big 2014 'welcome back' release.... as I'd hoped 2014 would be the year Hayley finally got her chance to do something special -- especially after the lazy and penny pinching effort of Hushabye.

But we'll see what happens.

[comet]

Interesting development in Katherine's career as an entertainer, wonder what Decca have in mind ?

Also the similarities between the two female voices of ABBA, Agnetha & Anni-Frid when compared with Hayley and Katherine.

Katherine has that lower, slightly husky buzz to her voice and Hayley has that higher, clearer, pure tone.

All Decca need are two good lookin' blokes who can really sing and a genius songwriter with new material and they have a potential "Super group" on their hands. Brian Lane has experience in that area too.

I do get a bit peeved at the amount of "Decca Bashing" that goes on, although some of it is well deserved when it comes to their lack of promotion for Hayley, This may be down to specific individuals rather than Decca as a group, no doubt time will tell.

Decca have been at the forefront of the "Crossover Genre" since it's inception in the late 1960s They formed the Deram Label with this in mind and released six easy listening orchestral pop albums in October 1967 and also the wonderful Days of Future Passed by The Moody Blues which contains the long version of Nights in White Satin..

All through the seventies, some of the most wonderful experimental music turned up on either the Decca or Deram labels. I don't know of any other label that has had a similar level of persistent commitment to the crossover genre.

[martindn]

Yes, it seems on the surface that this is humble pie for Katherine. She tried to crack America and failed. So she goes back to her roots. Who is now the number one soprano on the label, and who will get all the best opportunities and promotion I have to ask.
Did Daydream do better or worse than Hushabye?
Will Katherine's promotion now be as abysmal as Hayley's. We shall wait and see.

Martin D

[Jillian]

Hi Comet,

I agree that Decca is one of the best Classical Crossover labels - although it is very much a niche genre.

Up until recently, I haven't really had many grievances with Decca. They create and promote music in a niche genre -- so it's fair that relatively low selling albums should have lower cost promotion. I wonder if the issue with Katherine's Warner deal was the expenses far outweighed income.

I believe that the classical-crossover division of Decca would need to be monitored carefully with regard to expenditure, as sales are relatively low compared to other kinds of music.

As far as I'm concerned, I have given Decca quite a bad rap recently because of Hushabye. It had all the hallmarks of a typical 'Decca cheapie'. Limited and unoriginal song selection, quickly made, recycled instrumentals from their other lullaby release from Catrin Finch, created solely to attempt to cash in on the royals, but then eventually poorly promoted so it didn't cash in at all... making the whole sorry affair rather pointless.

I view Decca as being responsible for that. Goodness knows I'm not prepared to think it was Hayley's doing.

But as for Decca's skills generally, I think that one can't expect too much for what is a relatively low budget operation compared to the likes of Beyonce or Katy Perry.

Sept 1, 2013 20:06:09 GMT martindn said:

Yes, it seems on the surface that this is humble pie for Katherine. She tried to crack America and failed. So she goes back to her roots. Who is now the number one soprano on the label, and who will get all the best opportunities and promotion I have to ask.

Did Daydream do better or worse than Hushabye?

Will Katherine's promotion now be as abysmal as Hayley's. We shall wait and see.

Martin D

Katherine generates a fair bit of her own press independently -- I always see a fair few paparazzi shots of her in the Daily Mail quite regularly. I believe that there's been an article a day about her this last week.

She was even photographed leaving the dinner where it's believed that she signed the Decca deal: www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2403571/Katherine-Jenkins-raises-toast-new-chapter-dines-nautical-jumpsuit.html

So you can't really compare Hayley to Katherine. Hayley is only ever photographed and featured in the papers when she's at red carpet events or a formal interview or press release has been arranged.

So Katherine has a lot more momentum behind her -- Katherine's deal with Decca is already generating articles and Decca haven't released a formal statement yet. (Although, I do wonder if they leaked this )

Cheers,
Jillian

[Dave]

Hi Jillian and all,

Katherine is of course very much a UK media star and there's no doubt that here, she will maintain a higher profile than Hayley - Katherine is more than just a singer, here.

Hayley is more well known Internationally, in the Far East and NZ especially, so when it's all taken together, she is probably at least as important to Decca these days as Katherine. You don't need to sell as many records in the Far East as in the UK because currencies there are stronger and, of course, Hayley will do well from her concerts there.

So I think Decca will promote both of them but in the UK, Katherine will get more exposure and in the Far East etc., Hayley will continue to do better. Both will be important to Decca though and it will be interesting to see if Decca prompt any collaboration between them in the future.

Cheers, Dave

[Libby]

Dave, I would dare to say that Hayley is probably better-known (as a singer) even in the US than Katherine is, partly because of Celtic Woman, and also because she was introduced to us around the time the rest of the world was just getting to know her, too, and with her most successful album to date. I certainly don't know that for sure, but has KJ ever had an album available in the US that wasn't an import, aside from any Warner albums produced?

Comet, I'm definitely not keen on that idea of yours. I've had enough of Hayley's huge talent being hidden lately, no need to bury her voice with 3 other voices, and yet again restrain her writing skills. If Hayley writes a song, I want to hear Hayley singing it, not KJ! I don't even enjoy KJ's voice, anyway. I'm not fond of mezzosoprano opera voices (though there are some that think KJ's opera technique is not actually very good). Her performance at the Memorial Day concert was pleasant, but a bit too warbly and too much vibrato for my liking. Too deep and yawning. Thank goodness your idea will never happen.

[Dave]

Sept 3, 2013 5:52:21 GMT Libby said:

Dave, I would dare to say that Hayley is probably better-known (as a singer) even in the US than Katherine is, partly because of Celtic Woman, and also because she was introduced to us around the time the rest of the world was just getting to know her, too, and with her most successful album to date. I certainly don't know that for sure, but has KJ ever had an album available in the US that wasn't an import, aside from any Warner albums produced?

Hi Libby,

You are right, Katherine hasn't done as well in the US charts as Hayley, not even if you ignore Celtic Woman. And of course, Celtic Woman have done much better in the US than Hayley as a solo artist so yes, Hayley will be more well known there, and possibly everywhere outside the UK and Ireland (but if any Katherine fans know different, please post the details).

Cheers, Dave

[jimg]

Sept 3, 2013 5:52:21 GMT Libby said:

Comet, I'm definitely not keen on that idea of yours. I've had enough of Hayley's huge talent being hidden lately, no need to bury her voice with 3 other voices, and yet again restrain her writing skills. If Hayley writes a song, I want to hear Hayley singing it, not KJ! I don't even enjoy KJ's voice, anyway. I'm not fond of mezzosoprano opera voices (though there are some that think KJ's opera technique is not actually very good). Her performance at the Memorial Day concert was pleasant, but a With the right size venues say 3 to 4000 seats. bit too warbly and too much vibrato for my liking. Too deep and yawning. Thank goodness your idea will never happen.

Hi Libby,
I don't think Comet is suggesting, or ever would suggest, Hayley's voice should we buried. I am not sure about a "super group" but I could see a collaboration on a "classical crossover" tour with perhaps 4 top CC acts coming together in a loose grouping to do a tour. They could maybe each do 5 numbers with perhaps 3 or 4 duets and a group number. The duets could feature on each others albums. This would give them all exposure to the other's fans. The group could consist of a soprano (Hayley), a mezzo (Katherine), a classical tenor and a maybe a popular more pop or stage musical tenor.Because each would be singing only 6 or 7 songs there would be less fatigue and therefore the tour could be a bit longer if the tickets sold well.

With the right size venues say 3 to 4000 seats I think it could work but it would be expensive and a risk for all.

It would need someone with, good knowledge of the industry to put it together, cash to finance it, negotiating skills to sort who sang what and who got paid what.

[comet]

I suppose in a way Hayley was part of a Super Group when she performed with Celtic Woman.
It was certainly the way to get exposure in America without going it alone or solo and it did no harm to seem to be of Irish origins while she was there. Pity Hayley did not spend more time with them, It certainly increased the numbers of visitors to her Old Official Forum and HWI. Hayley also had her own dedicated threads on the Celtic Woman forums as well. Visitors were always delighted and amazed to find out Hayley had quite an extensive back catalog of her own solo material.


ugg. I really have this thread in knots now, eh ?

[stevemacdonald]

I suppose it was only a matter of time before KJ waltzed back to Decca. Too bad they couldn't swing a better deal for her, but in all such negotiations it takes two to tango. Her earlier partnership with Decca may have spun out of control but now it should be on more solid footing. With the stars Decca has it its roster Katherine can now make a quick step back into the limelight.

[Simba]

Goodness I'd never want the two to sing together. It has been a disaster already once when the both sang an a capella of Ave Maria. (Hayley's portion was stunning though)

And regarding the popularity, I think Katherine Jenkins is more internationally popular, here in India I knew Katherine Jenkins way before I got to know hayley, merely because of all the publicity she gets. And a lot of my friends knew the name even if they didn't know who she was, and some knew she was a singer too. But none knew her songs.
And of some of my friends worldwide who I had asked about Hayley to, the few who knew her, recalled through "Scarborough fair" and a few others through Vivo per lei.
Celtic woman really did a huge deal for Hayley, and so did Youtube. The original video of Scarborough fair had 8 million views which overtook the so-called original by Simon & Garfunkel (I know it's an old folk song) But sadly that video was only recently taken down due to copyright issues...but another video with a little less than two million views is catching up.

So the two most popular videos (Vivo per lei with 13 million views) are due to her collaborations with other famous people or groups. Interesting to note that this video (vivo per lei) is Bocelli's 5th highest viewed video too. And Scarborough fair was the second most viewed video of Celtic woman until it was taken down.

The thing is, her collaboration with Ennio Morricone would have been as dramatic as expected if they actually toured together worldwide or something. But sad that that didn't happen, and Paradiso in it's context didn't have the greatest sales.

So collaborations seem to help Hayley most, but definitely I'd not want to see her collaborate with Jenkins XD

[martindn]

I am one of the few still here who have seen Hayley and Katherine singing live together. In my case it happened the first time I heard either of them. That was back in 2004.
And as for publicity, they have different values. Hayley likes being able to walk down a street in London and not be recognised. She will promote herself when she has an album to sell. That's what allows her to continue to make a living as a musician. But it is strictly for a purpose.
Katherine wants to be a celebrity, and singing, dancing, TV shows, who cares as long as it gets her the attention of as many people as possible. To her I suspect, walking down a street in London and not being recognised would be failure.
Katherine's ambition is to be famous. Hayley's is to make a living as a singer. They are different. And it shows.
Would Katherine have done Hushabye or Paradiso if it had been offered to her? You bet your life. Katherine never had anything as focussed or inspiring as that to work with.
I think Katherine does see Hayley as a rival though, whatever she says. Hayley mentions Katherine in her autobiography. Katherine does not mention Hayley in hers, even though her first UK tour was as a support act for Hayley's Pure tour. I think that says a lot.
I'm not trying to be bitchy. I think Katherine is a talented singer, and I enjoy listening to her. But sometimes I think she is her own worst enemy.

Martin D

[Libby]

Simba, there must be more than one upload of Hayley singing Scarborough Fair on the CW DVD.

And I kind of wish Katherine had done a lullaby album instead of Hayley. It probably would have been promoted and sold better than Hushabye, but then what would that matter to me?