WC: But, the advantage was Sony was a massive machine, and they put a lot of investing into the band, and it was helpful for us. And, then there were other things that happened, like Brazil. We never really had a chance to get down to Brazil; we didn’t get a lot of radio play in Brazil. But, we went down there, and it was something.
We arrived, and it was like the Beatles arrived. It was frightening, actually. [laughter] And, that wasn’t just a Sony thing; that was also MTV. We weren’t on the radio, but somehow or another, that country went bananas for the “Cult of Personality” video.
And, the band still has the same kind of pull to this day. So, the advantage of Sony was being able to sit in a meeting and meet your St. Louis guy, and your Cali guy and the guy from Canada and strategize your record and say, “Okay, we’re gonna hit this radio; we’re gonna do this. You guys are gonna come in and play these venues.” It’s a lot more work doing it by yourself and there are less fans, but you’re getting more cash on the cow.
SG: Right, because the way the economics work, it’s like a 10 or 15 percent, and then they recoup that at your royalty rate against production costs. So a lot of artists never see any royalties.
WC: Exactly, whereas if you’re selling your own records—which I do—and it costs me whatever, six bucks for a record and the CD and DVD, I can sell it for £20 in England, it’s fantastic.
SG: Yeah, that sounds good. And, the copyrights to the original Living Colour masters, does Sony still own them?
WC: They still own the music that we cut there; yes they do. And, they make a lot of re-issues, remakes, and compilations, that sort of thing.
SG: Income and sales for the major labels have dramatically decreased. Do you think the major labels will crumble, and if so, what will replace them?
WC: They won’t necessarily crumble, because labels have owned the business for so long, that they’ll do fine with distribution. They can put out Nat King Cole and Miles and Hendrix and the Beatles, and whatever else until the skies fall. And, so on that level, if they even shrink down to eight people per label [laughter] they’ll be able to make a fortune on the boxed sets and re-issues and whatever, the new “gold” CD, the CD boxed set, plus the rehearsals, plus the outtakes.
But, people aren’t sure where it’s gonna end up, with the new digital vibe and downloading. There’s so much great talent around here—great music, great musicians—but it’s becoming more and more difficult to find because of the combination of falling labels, so much product is coming out in so many ways. It’s gonna change the scene.