Label news: Decca signs a composer
mainThe Decca record label has quietly set up a music publishing wing under ex-Imagem and Boosey exec Natasha Baldwin.
Its first client is the multifarious Max Richter, author of the 8½ hour long SLEEP album, which has sold 100,000 copies.
Richter has also composed for Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir, Tom Hardy’s BBC drama Taboo and several ballet projects with Wayne McGregor.
He says: ‘I liked the idea of being the first signing to Decca Music Publishing, as we agreed to take a fresh outlook on how we approach music publishing together, at a time when the rules are changing as to how music can engage with the multidimensional creative landscape of today.’
Ink-wet signing pic: L-R: Universal UK CEO David Joseph, Natasha Baldwin, Max Richter, Universal Classical president Dickon Stainer, Steve Abbott © Dominic Nicholls
I want to sue this man. My PA bought his ‘Sleep’ CD and it cost me two months to get her on the job again.
having listened to this you-tube I could only think of Satie’s reiterations …. have never listened to the entire CD though ….
I’m not sure what’s worse: That people think that Philip Glass is a “composer” worth listening to, or that this pretend Philip Glass is able to pull off the same kind of con game.
BFC, I completely agree about Richter: it is a con game. Take any two minor chords, repeat them ad nauseum, add lots of reverb and goopy strings, and the general public laps it up. Were DG or Decca to call it what it really is – New Age – no one would buy it, and justice would be served. Alone the fact that Norman includes this press release in his classical blog is distressing. However I must disagree with you about Philip Glass: I don’t go for the piano pieces, however the concerto with saxophone quartet is a nice work!
Insipid crud.