What the? Absolutely Kosher has loot like that? No way. Press release below...
PRESS RELEASE
August 2, 2005
Wind-Up Records has just formally turned down Absolutely
Kosher Records' offer of $100,000 to purchase the rights to the Wrens' first two
albums, Silver and Secaucus. This is the fourth and
most substantial offer Absolutely Kosher has made to acquire the records since
the label signed the Wrens in late 2002/early 2003. Two previous attempts to
license the albums (rather than buy them) were quashed when Wind-Up insisted an
advance given to the band in 1996 be repaid before licensing negotiations
proceed. When it became clear that the history between Wind-Up and the Wrens
was dictating that label's business decisions, Absolutely Kosher was left with
no choice but to try and buy the albums outright. The latest offer of one
hundred thousand dollars (yes, $100,000.00) was made several weeks ago just
prior to the band's landmark performance at Chicago's Intonation Festival in
front of 16,000 people and was rejected this morning. Absolutely Kosher label
head Cory Brown said of the conversation, "Even their licensing person seemed
surprised that the higher-ups had turned down the offer. She said she would
keep me posted if there had been any progress and that we could revisit this in
six months. She said that Wind-Up might reissue the albums, but no definite
plans had been made or she, at least, hadn't been made privy to them. I told
her that as much as it would be great to see these records in print eventually,
the time to do so was now and we were the label to do it."
Both Silver (1994) and Secaucus (1996) were
released on Grass Records, also home to such bands as Brainiac (pre-Enon) and
Commander Venus (pre-Bright Eyes). Grass was purchased by industry mogul Allen
Meltzer, fresh off the sale of the Alliance Entertainment Corporation, a
conglomerate of one-stop distributors he founded in the early 1990s. Meltzer
transformed the label into Wind-Up not long after the Wrens decided against
signing the rather binding multi-album deal the label had laid before them.
Both albums (as well as the bulk of the Grass catalog) promptly went out of
print and have been fetching anywhere from $35 to $160 on e-Bay, Amazon and the
like. The Wrens would have likely been forgotten by all but a few avid fans
were it not for the release and remarkable grass roots success of their third
album, The Meadowlands, released by Absolutely Kosher in September
2003.
"The public deserves to be able to buy Silver and
Secaucus for a reasonable price and no label is better suited to put them
back in print than The Wrens' active label partner, Absolutely Kosher Records.
Wind-Up squandered their opportunity with the Wrens years ago and have done
absolutely nothing in the two years since The Meadowlands' break-out
success. The expectation that they would put the proper time and energy into
these reissues, if they even choose to pursue them at all, is unrealistic.
Several commercially generous offers have been made for records which are doing
nothing but collecting dust in their vaults and each time they have turned them
down with no counter-offer. Perhaps it's vague self-interest, perhaps it's
spite. Either way, it borders on criminal both morally (in terms of what's best
for the fans and the band) and fiscally (in terms of what's best for the
label). We'd like to call on all Wrens fans and people concerned with artists'
rights to write a letter to Wind-Up Records urging them to accept Absolutely
Kosher's most recent offer and FREE THE WRENS' BACK CATALOGUE. Here's their
address:
Wind-up Records
RE: FREE THE WRENS' BACK CATALOGUE
72 Madison Ave
New York, NY 10016
New York, NY 10016
You can also e-mail Wind-Up at any of the addresses below...
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Posted by: jrmy | August 05, 2005 at 11:46 AM
I think the email route will work better. Thanks for the info jrmy!
Posted by: dave park | August 07, 2005 at 01:40 AM