Negamuse wrote:Ehhh... I have a vague feeling about BoC, Warp and the music BIZ but can't really put it into simple words that mean exactly what I want to say. But I'm starting to think that they're no longer good stewards of a band like BoC, basically. They had them on roster when they were really, REALLY cool, and that made THEM look cool, and in this day and age, who is even into BoC? It's not the cool kids they're desperately trying to market to.
I don't think they ever phoned the band and said, like, "hey boys, gonna need an EP this year at least". Don't get me wrong. But these days, it feels like if they give a damn about BoC at all it's as a little bauble in the bank to say "look, we bought into these guys way back. Don't ask about new material, look at their stuff we put out in the glory days". They're like a reciept of cool that transfers agreed-upon value back to them, they almost don't NEED them to make anything now, who are they going to market it to? Who's their target demographic as a label? Honestly, now, is it us?
Just put out reissues and ride the cachet of what they got out of them way back when. Keep them on the roster while their value goes to the moon, like a Bored Ape of Canada.
This is scarily similar to my sentiment toward the Silent Hill franchise. However, unlike the vidya gaem industry, music isn't as high risk/high reward these days, and BoC already have a large reputation in any scene by this point. I imagine any 14 y/o fan of Anthony Fantano is just as likely to be into more experimental (for lack of a better word) acts like Aphex Twin, Bjork, Radiohead, etc. I've said this before, but how many times can you find someone mentioning in a YouTube comment section something along the lines of "BoC vibes". I don't think I can really imagine a new BoC release being a net negative for any label. They probably wouldn't be that into a BoCset, though
Another thing I've been thinking about, but TH came out in 2013, it's 2022 and physical media is a pretty niche thing, and the concept of an album is pretty abstract, with more of a focus on individual songs and more condensed releases. I recall this being the reason NIN released their EP trilogy a few years ago.