How Rykodisc licensed/got Bowie
Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 1:04 am
This was on Ryko's website. They were celebrating they're 20th anniversary and put up a lengthy history on their site. I figure I'd put it here before they take it down:
Late in 1987 we got word that David Bowie was getting the rights back to his RCA-era catalog – everything from Space Oddity to Scary Monsters, including such classics as Ziggy Stardust, Young Americans and Low. Although it seemed virtually beyond imagination that Rykodisc could land this incredible body of work, the label decided to make a play for it. I had just been hired by the label full-time as Director of A&R and Special Projects. My first assignment: put together a proposal for the Bowie catalog.
Bowie’s CDs had been released before in the USA and Europe, but the packaging and sound was typical of many early CD releases – lousy. The masters used were late generation sources, and the artwork consisted of the front and back covers of the original albums. Inside the booklets there were no liner notes, just a catalog of other titles you could buy, like John Denver's Greatest Hits.
Our proposal went out in March, and later Don and Arthur flew to Switzerland to meet with David. The rest of us crossed our fingers and held our breath for the better part of a year while it went back and forth. People we told scoffed at our chances of landing Bowie, but we held out hope.
Finally, in early 1989, after months of hand wringing, David Bowie chose Ryko to be the lead company for his catalog. This meant that we would assemble all the packages and track listings and handle mastering for the whole world. Since our label presence wasn't strongly established outside of North America, EMI handled the rest of the world. We sent them the art and masters, and they added their logos to the art.
We took possession of the Bowie master vault, which was located in a storage facility in New Jersey. We hired a heavily insured and bonded antiquities mover to handle the transfer. The New Jersey place was a pit – it was like an old jail with open doors and loading docks, so the materials inside were exposed to the outside air. It wasn't climate controlled. The tapes and artwork were stored in a concrete cell. The hallways were littered with master tapes of legendary albums. The employee that led us to the Bowie vault kicked the multi-tracks for Jethro Tull's Aqualung out of the way with his hand-truck. Now you know why so many early CDs sounded so rough – the technology wasn’t up to today’s standards, but the bigger issue was finding an appropriate source tape!
At a storage facility in Massachusetts I sat in yet another dimly lit concrete room for two weeks cataloging every item. It was alternately tedious and thrilling work, finding unreleased tracks one minute and cataloging the umpteenth cassette master of Lodger the next. Holding the original hand-painted photo used on the cover of Ziggy Stardust was thrilling – the colors were so bright compared to what I was used to seeing.
David put us in touch with his designer, Roger Gorman of Reiner Design, whom we asked to come up with something special for our first release, the Sound + Vision box set. Meanwhile, I assembled the track listing and, at David's request, we chased down Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone and MTV News fame to write the liner notes.
Everything in concept came together quickly, and the track listing was approved without changes, but executing our ideas wasn't as easy. Roger designed a stunning 12” x 12” box (this was back when box sets came in impressive boxes, not thick jewel boxes) with a clear plastic lid that had David's image printed on it in a shimmering metallic color, creating an interesting 3-D lightbox effect that eventually won Roger a Grammy.
Getting it manufactured was a nightmare – the companies that made CD packaging had no way to make the clear box lid. Eventually we found a company in a Minneapolis suburb that silk screened the image on plastic sheets, then die cut and folded them using a heating process. Since they were close by, I went to the plant the first day they went into production. I was so impressed that I saved the first uncut plastic sheet off the line, which I still have.
We dubbed the series of Bowie releases the Sound + Vision series, in honor of one of David’s classic songs, but also to reflect that we were committed to the titles sounding and looking as good as possible. The “vision” component came in the form of a CDV, essentially a CD single of a video in 5 inch laserdisc format. It included the “Ashes to Ashes” video along with some audio-only live tracks that could be played on any CD player. Today everyone is releasing CDs with DVDs, but Ryko was the first to combine the CD with a disc-based video.
Sound + Vision was a tremendous success commercially and critically. Bowie fans were thrilled and the press heaped it with praise. It was also the culmination of everything the label had worked and stood for. In just under five years we had shown the world that a little independent with no offices in New York or L.A. could do a better job with world-class artists and their material than most majors.
All of this Bowie activity took place before the infamous Bowie Bond offering, so we were getting approvals from both David and his former manager Tony DeFries. Tony had a reputation as a notoriously hard manager, and as a young man with relatively little experience I was intimidated by his legend. While going through the photo archives, I found a ’70s picture of Tony with what at the time must’ve been deemed a very luxurious and abundant afro. In 1990, it looked a bit silly. I had the picture framed and whenever I called Tony, I put it on my desk. It really helped ease my nerves. That said, Tony was always very polite and accommodating to Rykodisc.
Happily, during this prolonged Bowie process, the label was taking off. Consumers were buying CDs then like they buy DVDs now. Every week, some major catalog album was being released. Still, lots of great bands and their recordings were unavailable on CD.
----
here's a bit on EC. Remember, Elvis later talked to Rhino, asking them to make a pitch because he was unsatisfied with Ryko's handling of his catalog:
All of us at Rykodisc were huge Elvis Costello fans – and why not? Word was flying around that Costello’s pre-Warner Bros. recordings (from the mighty My Aim Is True through the striking Blood & Chocolate) were looking for a new home. A few calls later we met Costello in a U.K. office. After discussing different ways to roll out the catalog, we went to the pub for a drink. Shortly thereafter we cut a deal with Costello and set out to release his amazing catalog.
In a lucky coincidence, Costello was about to release Brutal Youth – re-teaming him after many years with his original backing band, the Attractions. Anticipation was great for the record, but for us the big thrill was that Elvis & the Attractions were touring together again. In addition to the great songs from Brutal Youth, they liberally explored the back catalog in their sets, to the benefit of all.
The first Rykodisc Elvis release was a box set called 2 1/2 Years which included the first three EC albums (My Aim Is True, This Years Model and Armed Forces) plus a bonus live disc that had previously been issued as a legendary promotional LP, Live At The El Mocambo. The die-cut box had a big 12” x 12” book inside and is really a stunning piece.
Most of the hard work assembling the releases was done overseas by Elvis and Demon Records staffers, although I tried to insert myself a few times, most forcibly in the case of Almost Blue. Costello had supplied a great assortment of bonus tracks for the release, but most of the B-sides associated with the album were not included. I felt we were going to get a lot of angry mail from fans expecting them on CD for the first time and wrote a letter to EC to ask for a re-think. His response started with “Let’s get something nice and sparkling clear…” You can guess where this went. I had the letter framed, and it hangs proudly in my dining room.
Late in 1987 we got word that David Bowie was getting the rights back to his RCA-era catalog – everything from Space Oddity to Scary Monsters, including such classics as Ziggy Stardust, Young Americans and Low. Although it seemed virtually beyond imagination that Rykodisc could land this incredible body of work, the label decided to make a play for it. I had just been hired by the label full-time as Director of A&R and Special Projects. My first assignment: put together a proposal for the Bowie catalog.
Bowie’s CDs had been released before in the USA and Europe, but the packaging and sound was typical of many early CD releases – lousy. The masters used were late generation sources, and the artwork consisted of the front and back covers of the original albums. Inside the booklets there were no liner notes, just a catalog of other titles you could buy, like John Denver's Greatest Hits.
Our proposal went out in March, and later Don and Arthur flew to Switzerland to meet with David. The rest of us crossed our fingers and held our breath for the better part of a year while it went back and forth. People we told scoffed at our chances of landing Bowie, but we held out hope.
Finally, in early 1989, after months of hand wringing, David Bowie chose Ryko to be the lead company for his catalog. This meant that we would assemble all the packages and track listings and handle mastering for the whole world. Since our label presence wasn't strongly established outside of North America, EMI handled the rest of the world. We sent them the art and masters, and they added their logos to the art.
We took possession of the Bowie master vault, which was located in a storage facility in New Jersey. We hired a heavily insured and bonded antiquities mover to handle the transfer. The New Jersey place was a pit – it was like an old jail with open doors and loading docks, so the materials inside were exposed to the outside air. It wasn't climate controlled. The tapes and artwork were stored in a concrete cell. The hallways were littered with master tapes of legendary albums. The employee that led us to the Bowie vault kicked the multi-tracks for Jethro Tull's Aqualung out of the way with his hand-truck. Now you know why so many early CDs sounded so rough – the technology wasn’t up to today’s standards, but the bigger issue was finding an appropriate source tape!
At a storage facility in Massachusetts I sat in yet another dimly lit concrete room for two weeks cataloging every item. It was alternately tedious and thrilling work, finding unreleased tracks one minute and cataloging the umpteenth cassette master of Lodger the next. Holding the original hand-painted photo used on the cover of Ziggy Stardust was thrilling – the colors were so bright compared to what I was used to seeing.
David put us in touch with his designer, Roger Gorman of Reiner Design, whom we asked to come up with something special for our first release, the Sound + Vision box set. Meanwhile, I assembled the track listing and, at David's request, we chased down Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone and MTV News fame to write the liner notes.
Everything in concept came together quickly, and the track listing was approved without changes, but executing our ideas wasn't as easy. Roger designed a stunning 12” x 12” box (this was back when box sets came in impressive boxes, not thick jewel boxes) with a clear plastic lid that had David's image printed on it in a shimmering metallic color, creating an interesting 3-D lightbox effect that eventually won Roger a Grammy.
Getting it manufactured was a nightmare – the companies that made CD packaging had no way to make the clear box lid. Eventually we found a company in a Minneapolis suburb that silk screened the image on plastic sheets, then die cut and folded them using a heating process. Since they were close by, I went to the plant the first day they went into production. I was so impressed that I saved the first uncut plastic sheet off the line, which I still have.
We dubbed the series of Bowie releases the Sound + Vision series, in honor of one of David’s classic songs, but also to reflect that we were committed to the titles sounding and looking as good as possible. The “vision” component came in the form of a CDV, essentially a CD single of a video in 5 inch laserdisc format. It included the “Ashes to Ashes” video along with some audio-only live tracks that could be played on any CD player. Today everyone is releasing CDs with DVDs, but Ryko was the first to combine the CD with a disc-based video.
Sound + Vision was a tremendous success commercially and critically. Bowie fans were thrilled and the press heaped it with praise. It was also the culmination of everything the label had worked and stood for. In just under five years we had shown the world that a little independent with no offices in New York or L.A. could do a better job with world-class artists and their material than most majors.
All of this Bowie activity took place before the infamous Bowie Bond offering, so we were getting approvals from both David and his former manager Tony DeFries. Tony had a reputation as a notoriously hard manager, and as a young man with relatively little experience I was intimidated by his legend. While going through the photo archives, I found a ’70s picture of Tony with what at the time must’ve been deemed a very luxurious and abundant afro. In 1990, it looked a bit silly. I had the picture framed and whenever I called Tony, I put it on my desk. It really helped ease my nerves. That said, Tony was always very polite and accommodating to Rykodisc.
Happily, during this prolonged Bowie process, the label was taking off. Consumers were buying CDs then like they buy DVDs now. Every week, some major catalog album was being released. Still, lots of great bands and their recordings were unavailable on CD.
----
here's a bit on EC. Remember, Elvis later talked to Rhino, asking them to make a pitch because he was unsatisfied with Ryko's handling of his catalog:
All of us at Rykodisc were huge Elvis Costello fans – and why not? Word was flying around that Costello’s pre-Warner Bros. recordings (from the mighty My Aim Is True through the striking Blood & Chocolate) were looking for a new home. A few calls later we met Costello in a U.K. office. After discussing different ways to roll out the catalog, we went to the pub for a drink. Shortly thereafter we cut a deal with Costello and set out to release his amazing catalog.
In a lucky coincidence, Costello was about to release Brutal Youth – re-teaming him after many years with his original backing band, the Attractions. Anticipation was great for the record, but for us the big thrill was that Elvis & the Attractions were touring together again. In addition to the great songs from Brutal Youth, they liberally explored the back catalog in their sets, to the benefit of all.
The first Rykodisc Elvis release was a box set called 2 1/2 Years which included the first three EC albums (My Aim Is True, This Years Model and Armed Forces) plus a bonus live disc that had previously been issued as a legendary promotional LP, Live At The El Mocambo. The die-cut box had a big 12” x 12” book inside and is really a stunning piece.
Most of the hard work assembling the releases was done overseas by Elvis and Demon Records staffers, although I tried to insert myself a few times, most forcibly in the case of Almost Blue. Costello had supplied a great assortment of bonus tracks for the release, but most of the B-sides associated with the album were not included. I felt we were going to get a lot of angry mail from fans expecting them on CD for the first time and wrote a letter to EC to ask for a re-think. His response started with “Let’s get something nice and sparkling clear…” You can guess where this went. I had the letter framed, and it hangs proudly in my dining room.