As president of RCA Records, a label that has Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Foo Fighters, Pink and Kelly Clarkson on its roster, Corson works with several artists who could potentially pull off a marketing move as massive as U2 and Apple’s. A week after U2‘s surprise, free release of its new album, Songs of Innocence, Corson weighed in on the potential benefits to other artists and labels, including his own.
What’s your initial take on what U2 did?
More than ever, there are no rules. Music has been moved into this access model over ownership; it really throws a lot of opportunities our way. You just have to measure it up and see if you can create a valuation for it. As long as all the parties involved — the rights holders, stakeholders in the business — are respected, then there’s a way to make these things work.
Do you think it worked?
Nothing happens without a consequence, even good things. Universal [Music Group], the band and everyone will have to navigate through that. For a band at this point in their career, with what their broader agenda is, hats off to them. They certainly got a ton of publicity and good looks out of it, so if that was their goal, they achieved it.
As a label boss, do you look at the $100 million that U2 and Interscope are getting for their marketing campaign and think, “I’d like that”?
Certainly, our desire would be to be part of something like that, if our needs and rights were respected. And that’s the thing with U2 — they still have to go out and sell this album. It’s a very dynamic business right now, with new models developing. U2 have been brilliant marketers over the years, done a hell of a job keeping the album vibrant and relevant. And speaking a little more record business-y, what it does well is get the album out there without having to rely on a hit single. This is one way of navigating that minefield.
What’s your take on giving away an album like that for free: Does this devalue the format?
Certainly it’s a risk and I’ve heard people say that. I’m more on the side of, “If it’s great music and there’s so much access to music now, it’ll be about whether it’s seen as great music over time.” Like anything, it’s worth what you paid for it. Time will tell if it stands up to other U2 albums, and if it does, then they have a shot and it’ll be fine. It’ll be looked at as something that did what it needed to do.