Everyone Thinks They Can Do Better

First Starbucks, now Electronic Arts… It seems even companies in industries outside of the music industry think that they can do better than the major labels have done with music sales. On Monday, March 26, 2007, Electronic Arts Inc. announced their plans to start a full service music label. EA has been pivotal in the success of rising artists. For the past five years the company has signed musicians to compose music for its video games. Now EA wants to be more involved with the music. It has joined with Nettwerk One Music Ltd. to create the Artwerk label. The musicians under the label will include those who create music for games, along with others. Artwerk will be able to sign, develop, and promote musicians for publishing deals, sync deals, and master recordings.

As far as promotions, EA hopes to take advantage of the growing Web 2.0 abilities. This refers to the ability of the public to go to the website, and add input on the music, along with being able to advertise for their own talents. Upcoming musicians will be able to submit samples of their music on Artwerk’s website. Artwerk will also place its artists’ music on iTunes, Rhapsody, and other online sites.

The first of Artwerk’s artists is Junkie XL. He is an artist who has had his music placed in several of EA’s video games, such as “Madden NFL ’07” and “Need for Speed: Carbon.” It will be interesting to see who is signed next, especially since Artwerk is not limiting its artists to those able to create music for video games. Unlike Starbucks, it seems Artwerk will be catering to a more specific demographic. Those who are not into video games may not turn to the new label for new music choices. It may be hard for EA to shake its reputation as a video game creator. Consequentially, the musicians under this label may be narrowed down to those who create music for video games. Perhaps EA needs to follow Starbucks footsteps and sign a major artist that has not created music for games first, just so the Artwerk label gets its name out there.