I like Fiona Apple. She has released two very good albums, and my girlfriend and I have been looking forward to her third album. Well, we have been a waiting for ages now. The release date was pushed backwards forever, although the album is already finished. Since May 2003 it had been shelved by the Sony/Epic executives, because they were unable to agree on a single to release. As of December 8th, the album has been shelved for an indefinite time, because now the good people at Sony think the album is too experimental, and actually releasing and promoting it wouldn’t be cost-effective enough.
Apart from the fact that these people are obvious assholes, they are musical idiots as well. I for one know that there are enough people who so wish to not be subjected to even more bland pop and hip-hop acts anymore, created somewhere on a drawing table, and who’d be willing to buy an album which doesn’t feature a 100% marketable single. It’s just a fucking shame people in power can be so stupid, but hey, it’s never been a secret. If you are interested in more information on that topic, head on over to Free Fiona, an organisation dedicated to get that album released.
Good luck to that organisation. Juliana Hatfield’s album “God’s Foot”, recorded in 1996, is still held in captivity by her former record company, waiting to be released (but most likely it won’t ever be).
my 2cents:
the industry is the worst thing, that can happen to musicians.
take the beta band as example: nice scottish people making great music, but they had so many debts to their studio, because they didn’t perfom as much as their manager wanted them to and now they had to split the band.
try open source labeling
Open source labeling….that’s an interesting idea. But didn’t MP3.com try that already?
Fiona Apple is an intelligent, amazing musician, songwriter, singer, and expressionist. I don’t know what I would do without her music, and I’ve been waiting five years too long for her third album. I firmly believe that if sony released the album it would be extremely well received. And even if it wasn’t…it would be worth the release to make people like me happy. Last year I heard that Fiona was releasing a new cd. Every week for a year I called the record store to see if they had a release date. Sony is ruining my life. SONY - Release the cd; keeping it in your blind and ignorant hands isn’t doing sociey any good.
Thanks for the interest, guys. If you haven’t already done so, check out the website and sign the petition! Just click where it says “Sign the Petition” on the right frame.
Best,
Dave Muscato
dave@freefiona.com
Founder, Free Fiona
and the entire team at freefiona.com