Post by comebackhitman on Feb 6, 2008 17:34:59 GMT -5
for all the doubters- nirvanas music is owned by- courtney she owns most of it,geffen, and then primary wave. they all work together to carry on cobains legacy. if your just a nirvana basher with nothing nice to say- save your words- none cares!
article
Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain's legacy has lived on almost exclusively through the band's recordings, his published journals and, of course, the influence he has had on waves of rock musicians since his suicide in 1994.
That makes sense. While it is now commonplace for musicians to make money by selling their work for use in television shows, movies and advertising campaigns, it’s hard to imagine someone less likely to go down that route than Cobain. The cynical cover of Nirvana's 1991 breakthrough album Nevermind featured a swimming baby approaching a dollar bill attached to a fishing line. And when Rolling Stone put Nirvana on its cover the following year, Cobain appeared wearing a T-shirt that declared, "Corporate Magazines Still Suck."
Yet Cobain’s music may end up in the service of marketers after all. His widow, Courtney Love, has sold a 25% stake in Nirvana's song catalog to Primary Wave Music Publishing. And with Love's blessing, Primary Wave is exploring licensing opportunities for Cobain's music.
"We believe if we say yes to the right things, we can do both--make money and do the right thing for the catalog,'' says Love's manager Peter Asher.
Even before the Primary Wave deal earlier this year, Love and Asher made a couple of forays into licensing. Two versions of the Nirvana song "All Apologies" were used last year in an episode of the HBO drama Six Feet Under, and the band's song "Something In the Way" was used in the 2005 film Jarhead.
Next up, with the assistance of Primary Wave, is the hit CBS police drama CSI: Miami, which will prominently feature several Nirvana recordings in an episode scheduled to air in November. Primary Wave is also considering other licensing pacts leading up to the 20th anniversary of Sub Pop Records' 1989 release of Bleach, Nirvana's first album.
Primary Wave Chief Executive Lawrence Mestel, former chief operating officer and general manager of Virgin Records, says he expects most licensing deals for Nirvana songs will be with the producers of movies and TV shows. But he adds that Primary Wave will also consider doing advertising deals if the right partners emerge.
"You will never see Kurt Cobain's music in a fast-food hamburger advertisement – that won't ever happen,'' Mestel says. "We're looking at things that relate to cutting-edge technologies, products that are green and eco-friendly, products that Kurt would have liked to have his music represented by.''
In marketing materials that the company presents to prospective customers, Primary Wave pitches Cobain as an influential music icon with broad appeal.
"To Gen X, Cobain was their voice," the pitch reads. "To the Boomers, he was a revolutionary and to Gen Y, he is as iconic as James Dean, Che Guevara and John Lennon."
Primary Wave's plans come at a moment of evolving recording industry priorities and shifting consumer attitudes toward the commercial use of popular music.
For record companies such as Universal Music Group, parent of Nirvana's label Geffen, selling music to consumers used to be their all-consuming task. But in the new digital age of file sharing and music downloads, sales of prerecorded compact discs continue to erode, prompting the industry to make more aggressive use of licensing deals to bring in desperately needed revenue.
At the same time, consumers have become more accepting of hearing their favorite artists' music being used for commercial purposes. Music by rock legends such as the Rolling Stones and the Who have been used in TV commercials for years. More recently, recording artists as diverse as Jay-Z, U2, Britney Spears and John Mayer have had their music featured in ads for Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ - news - people ), Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ), Pepsi (nyse: PEP - news - people ) and Volkswagen, respectively.
"It used to be, 'Oh, he sold out,''' Asher says. "Now it's, 'Oh cool, they're using my favorite band.'''
Nonetheless, the commercial use of Nirvana's music might come as a bit of a shock to long-time fans familiar with the band's public stands against commercialism. Primary Wave's Mestel argues that this attitude is "the essence of what we're trying to protect. We're really trying to balance these concerns with the concerns of bringing this music to a new generation of kids.''
Primary Wave approached CSI: Miami music supervisor P.J. Bloom in August about the possibility of using Nirvana songs in an episode of the show, one of the most popular programs on television, both in the U.S. and overseas.
As it happens, the 37-year-old Bloom is an avid Nirvana fan who followed the band from its early days before it broke big nationally. After Bloom quickly warmed to the idea, he asked Primary Wave to make sure that all those with an interest in the deal -- Geffen, Love, former Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl and their managers -- were all supportive of the concept.
Once that was secured, both sides laid down some basic ground rules. Primary Wave stipulated that the episode using Nirvana music not feature any suicide or drug-addiction themes -- Cobain famously struggled with heroin. Bloom, in turn, insisted that CSI: Miami have exclusive TV rights to Nirvana songs until the episode airs.
"Once I had that exclusive opportunity on paper, I was able to go to the producers and ask, 'Hey, what about writing an episode around Nirvana songs?'" Bloom recalls. "And they bit."
Bloom declined to disclose the plot of the episode, saying only that it involves "evil military recruiters." The show tentatively plans to use four Nirvana songs, with the 1992 hit single "Come As You Are" serving as "the tent-pole song," Bloom says. However, the exact number of songs and how much the show's producers will pay to use them hasn't been finalized.
Bloom says he's aware that the use of Cobain's songs on a TV show might rankle some fans.
"It's going to happen with or without me," he says. "They should find solace in the fact that it's a true Nirvana fan that's behind the wheel. [The show] will use the music in a way that maintains Kurt's legacy and keeps that intact. I wouldn't do it any other way."
Asher agrees. "If a hundred kids in Thailand watch and think, 'Wow, who's that?' then we've accomplished our mission," he says.
The challenge for Primary Wave will be to increase the value of its holdings without doing so in a way that overexposes or compromises the spirit of the music, Mestel says.
"Even though the financial opportunity may be fantastic, if it doesn't enhance the value of the music, we won't do it,'' he says.
article
Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain's legacy has lived on almost exclusively through the band's recordings, his published journals and, of course, the influence he has had on waves of rock musicians since his suicide in 1994.
That makes sense. While it is now commonplace for musicians to make money by selling their work for use in television shows, movies and advertising campaigns, it’s hard to imagine someone less likely to go down that route than Cobain. The cynical cover of Nirvana's 1991 breakthrough album Nevermind featured a swimming baby approaching a dollar bill attached to a fishing line. And when Rolling Stone put Nirvana on its cover the following year, Cobain appeared wearing a T-shirt that declared, "Corporate Magazines Still Suck."
Yet Cobain’s music may end up in the service of marketers after all. His widow, Courtney Love, has sold a 25% stake in Nirvana's song catalog to Primary Wave Music Publishing. And with Love's blessing, Primary Wave is exploring licensing opportunities for Cobain's music.
"We believe if we say yes to the right things, we can do both--make money and do the right thing for the catalog,'' says Love's manager Peter Asher.
Even before the Primary Wave deal earlier this year, Love and Asher made a couple of forays into licensing. Two versions of the Nirvana song "All Apologies" were used last year in an episode of the HBO drama Six Feet Under, and the band's song "Something In the Way" was used in the 2005 film Jarhead.
Next up, with the assistance of Primary Wave, is the hit CBS police drama CSI: Miami, which will prominently feature several Nirvana recordings in an episode scheduled to air in November. Primary Wave is also considering other licensing pacts leading up to the 20th anniversary of Sub Pop Records' 1989 release of Bleach, Nirvana's first album.
Primary Wave Chief Executive Lawrence Mestel, former chief operating officer and general manager of Virgin Records, says he expects most licensing deals for Nirvana songs will be with the producers of movies and TV shows. But he adds that Primary Wave will also consider doing advertising deals if the right partners emerge.
"You will never see Kurt Cobain's music in a fast-food hamburger advertisement – that won't ever happen,'' Mestel says. "We're looking at things that relate to cutting-edge technologies, products that are green and eco-friendly, products that Kurt would have liked to have his music represented by.''
In marketing materials that the company presents to prospective customers, Primary Wave pitches Cobain as an influential music icon with broad appeal.
"To Gen X, Cobain was their voice," the pitch reads. "To the Boomers, he was a revolutionary and to Gen Y, he is as iconic as James Dean, Che Guevara and John Lennon."
Primary Wave's plans come at a moment of evolving recording industry priorities and shifting consumer attitudes toward the commercial use of popular music.
For record companies such as Universal Music Group, parent of Nirvana's label Geffen, selling music to consumers used to be their all-consuming task. But in the new digital age of file sharing and music downloads, sales of prerecorded compact discs continue to erode, prompting the industry to make more aggressive use of licensing deals to bring in desperately needed revenue.
At the same time, consumers have become more accepting of hearing their favorite artists' music being used for commercial purposes. Music by rock legends such as the Rolling Stones and the Who have been used in TV commercials for years. More recently, recording artists as diverse as Jay-Z, U2, Britney Spears and John Mayer have had their music featured in ads for Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ - news - people ), Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ), Pepsi (nyse: PEP - news - people ) and Volkswagen, respectively.
"It used to be, 'Oh, he sold out,''' Asher says. "Now it's, 'Oh cool, they're using my favorite band.'''
Nonetheless, the commercial use of Nirvana's music might come as a bit of a shock to long-time fans familiar with the band's public stands against commercialism. Primary Wave's Mestel argues that this attitude is "the essence of what we're trying to protect. We're really trying to balance these concerns with the concerns of bringing this music to a new generation of kids.''
Primary Wave approached CSI: Miami music supervisor P.J. Bloom in August about the possibility of using Nirvana songs in an episode of the show, one of the most popular programs on television, both in the U.S. and overseas.
As it happens, the 37-year-old Bloom is an avid Nirvana fan who followed the band from its early days before it broke big nationally. After Bloom quickly warmed to the idea, he asked Primary Wave to make sure that all those with an interest in the deal -- Geffen, Love, former Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl and their managers -- were all supportive of the concept.
Once that was secured, both sides laid down some basic ground rules. Primary Wave stipulated that the episode using Nirvana music not feature any suicide or drug-addiction themes -- Cobain famously struggled with heroin. Bloom, in turn, insisted that CSI: Miami have exclusive TV rights to Nirvana songs until the episode airs.
"Once I had that exclusive opportunity on paper, I was able to go to the producers and ask, 'Hey, what about writing an episode around Nirvana songs?'" Bloom recalls. "And they bit."
Bloom declined to disclose the plot of the episode, saying only that it involves "evil military recruiters." The show tentatively plans to use four Nirvana songs, with the 1992 hit single "Come As You Are" serving as "the tent-pole song," Bloom says. However, the exact number of songs and how much the show's producers will pay to use them hasn't been finalized.
Bloom says he's aware that the use of Cobain's songs on a TV show might rankle some fans.
"It's going to happen with or without me," he says. "They should find solace in the fact that it's a true Nirvana fan that's behind the wheel. [The show] will use the music in a way that maintains Kurt's legacy and keeps that intact. I wouldn't do it any other way."
Asher agrees. "If a hundred kids in Thailand watch and think, 'Wow, who's that?' then we've accomplished our mission," he says.
The challenge for Primary Wave will be to increase the value of its holdings without doing so in a way that overexposes or compromises the spirit of the music, Mestel says.
"Even though the financial opportunity may be fantastic, if it doesn't enhance the value of the music, we won't do it,'' he says.
