Artist's careers in balance after record label takeover

P Money (left) and Scribe are signed to FMR which is being bought by Warner Music Australasia. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

The careers of Scribe, P Money and artists on the Flying Nun label are in the balance after the Australian takeover of local label Festival Mushroom Records.
Warner Music Australasia said last week it would buy FMR (Australia and New Zealand).

FMR in New Zealand distributes Dirty Records, the label founded by hip-hop producer P Money, which also has Scribe on its books.

The takeover has also left the future of some other top acts up in the air - like King Kapisi, The Phoenix Foundation, Dimmer, and Tha Feelstyle.

FMR also looks after Flying Nun, whose recent signings include the Mint Chicks and the Shocking Pinks, and distributes Auckland independent label Arch Hill.

The takeover is expected to go through in the coming weeks after being approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

FMR (New Zealand) general manager Darryl Parker says much of why Warners is buying FMR has to do with the strength of the label's New Zealand acts.

"FMR and Flying Nun are brother and sister, and have been for a long time; how that moulds into the changes ahead, I really wouldn't like to comment," he says.

P Money doesn't seem too worried and says it's pretty much "business as usual" at Dirty Records.

"We'll just adapt all our processes to the way [Warners] do things," he says.

He says the beauty of being a small, independent label is that it is able to do much of the work involved with making and releasing an album by itself.

"When I first heard I thought, well, really, it doesn't matter because worst-case scenario, if it all fell to pieces, we'd still be able to operate and work on a certain level ourselves."

But he is wary that Dirty's artists, including Frontline may be overlooked during the merger.

"It definitely requires us to have a bit more attention to detail during the changeover, so that we remain a priority amongst the new regime. I'm just keen to find out who we're going to be working with, so that they can understand us, and we understand them, so we can move forward without losing any steam."

One person who knows the benefits of solid international backing for an artist is Mark Ashbridge. As managing director of FMR (NZ) he oversaw the huge success of Scribe's Crusader. Ashbridge recently moved to Australia to become vice-president of marketing at Warner Music Australia.

He believes New Zealand acts could benefit from the takeover.

"[Scribe] will be plugged into a global network, and that's one of the things big acts will benefit from - a big company like Warners has more muscle."

This takeover is the latest in a trend over recent years that has seen the consolidation of the local recording industry - something that is mirrored on a world scale. Last year Warner Music NZ downsized, and this year Sony and BMG merged to become one company.

Campbell Smith, chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ), says the merging of these big companies has seen independent record labels flourish.

"That's the really positive thing that's come out of the way the industry has moved in the last few years and the way the majors interact with the independents is really positive too. There's no situation in NZ where majors are trying to hoard everything to themselves and they are working in conjunction with the smaller labels."