In a blast-from-the-past moment, CBS
I'm waxing nostalgic over the news. While I was still in college, my band Paris By Air was signed to Columbia in 1987. After a short run at Columbia and then Sony, we wound up doing well on MP3.com on this side of the millennium, with more than 500,000 downloads before the site was shut down.
That digital tack will be a big part of the new CBS Records. The label's focus will be digital distribution through its own CBSRecords.com site, as well as through Apple's
This certainly doesn't sound like the same prerecorded music titan of days gone by, but CBS is taking a smarter, more cost-conscious approach this time. Small contracts and bunt singles are admirable approaches to a dicey music industry that has been burned way too often when it shoots for the fences -- like when EMI had to pay $28 million to buy out Mariah Carey's contract.
So why go with CBS when popular unsigned artists can go it alone in this digital age? Well, for starters, CBS will be helping its artists by getting their music on popular CBS primetime shows. Other outlets include CSTV, The CW, Paramount's syndicated shows on other networks, and video distribution through CBS' Innertube offering. CBS was spun off by Viacom
No, the majors like Warner Music Group
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has always loved his keyboards, whether they are synthesizers, pianos, or the computer kind. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.