Placebo rages against the Machine
by Niki N. Phaser on Jun.17, 2009, under Music News
Placebo seem to have enraged “the machine” and, of course, by that I mean the labelzilla Virgin, who previously “owned” them for more than a decade. The trio decided to go indie and sign with a label (PIAS) only for distribution, paying themselves for their new album, Battle for the Sun. In recent interviews, they’ve admitted to not being very happy on the Virgin mothership, especially after the guys who brought them in, were fired.
To slap the wrist of the alternative idols and cash in one final check off of them, Virgin decided to release a boxset containing all Placebo albums, except the last one, of course, an album of B-sides, one of live recordings and two dvd’s. As if trying the “if you are a real fan”-blackmail wasn’t enough, the label decided to release the boxset on the 8th of June. For those unaware of recent Placebo history, this is the release date (announced in march) of Battle for the Sun.
So, is this a cautionary tale for bands leaving their violent, brutal, come-home-drunk-late-at-night-demanding-a-hot-meal labels? Well, not in Placebo’s case. Their record debuted in the top 10 in several countries, their gig-agenda is record-breaking (the british band with the most dates this summer). Everybody already knows that big labels are part of the “machine”, so I guess this is just another specific example.
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17/06/09 – Artigo – Placebo luta contra a Máquina « Placebo BR
October 31st, 2009 on 8:50 pm[...] Artigo original [...]
June 18th, 2009 on 4:51 pm
What Virgin did let me speechless… to be so revenging to release it exactly on 8th of june. This proves again how hungry and cruel the machine is. And i’m thinking there are a lot of fans who’ll buy that piece of trash.
That’s sad…
I’m very glad that Placebo finally left Virgin. What i don’t understand is why they continue to sell “especialy for real fans very expensive packages” when they complained Virgin was forcing them to do that. Their marketing is much more aggressive now than before. Their website is full of “buy now”, “order”, “special offer for fans”, “only 4 pounds” stuff. I guess they’re becoming some sort of machine now
)
It’s weird…
June 19th, 2009 on 5:15 pm
I think in this age where bands seem to make most of their money from live gigs rather than CD sales, marketing memorabilia is one of the few ways to pull in extra income.
Doesn’t mean I have the money for all the nifty stuff they put out, but if I did, I’d buy one of everything just to support the guys
June 20th, 2009 on 6:35 am
Yeah, exactly… they’re earning a hell lot of money from the festivals and live stuff, i can’t really understand why are they so hungry to take advantage of the poor fans who’ll buy even used toilet paper from them. I was ok if they released, let’s say, the CD with the album, and a separate DVD with the Cambodgia thing. But that Package it’s too “in your face”. And that Golden Pass, god, it’s so boybandish:P Yuk. I never believed Placebo could do such a thing… :-/
I always looked at Placebo as ppl not interested in the material part so much. I guess i was wrong…