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Dresdon Dolls' Amanda Palmer battles with record label
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A few months ago, I wrote about the best male/female duos making music, and included the Dresdon Dolls on my list. They are currently taking a little break from making music together, and the female in the duo, Amanda Palmer, has been focused on a solo album that she released this year called Who Killed Amanda Palmer. I found the conflict between her and her record label, Roadrunner Records, to be an interesting look inside the music industry. So to start off, the story goes something like this:
Palmer filmed an artsy music video for her song "Leeds United," which elaborately features a variety of costumes. Supposedly, her record label tried to cut out shots that exposed Palmer's bare belly because they thought she looked fat. A fan of Palmer's heard about the conflict, and started a "take a photo of your belly" campaign to help show support for Palmer. Then Roadrunner decided to use the campaign as a marketing tool by promoting the campaign on their website and giving away prize packs.
Music video for "Leeds United":
There seems to be an important lesson that both the artist and label can learn from this situation. When a label signs an artist, they need to support them fully. Given there are millions of bands in the world, it's absurd to sign a musician that you don't support 100%. When a label signs an artist, they aren't just signing a voice, they're signing the whole package.
On the other hand, it's also the musicians responsibility to make sure that they are compatible with a label, and that the label will treat them right. Of course in this instance, Palmer probably had no idea that something like this would happen when she signed with Roadrunner, but she asks the label on her blog "do you have any idea who i am, what band i've been in, what kind of music i write, who my fans are...who didn't send you the memo that i'm not britney spears? i'm not TRYING to look hungry. i'm trying to look HOT. there's a difference." She said that she is happy with her 'cottage industry' life, which I believe is true, but is more reason why she should have had a better relationship with the label before signing with them--it's unlikely that this tension popped out of nowhere.
The main point I'm trying to make is that there are enough Britney Spear's out there that wouldn't mind being on a label that requests a musician loses weight. Bands and labels need to set out their expectations before they sign into partnerships.
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