Lyle Lovett and his Large Band have made some excellent records over the past two decades, selling 4.6 million albums in the US since Soundscan started keeping track in '91. But he says he "never made a dime from a record sale in the history of (his) record deal."
Lovett's advances from his Universal Music Group/Curb label have apparently been so large that he has never recouped them to the point where he can earn money from selling his music, assuming his label's accounting has been honest.
"I've been very happy with my sales," he told Reuters. Like many artists, he says he "make(s) a living going out and playing shows."
One would imagine that after selling 4.6 million albums domestically without earning a dime from them, Lovett might think about, you know, ditching his label. As it turns out, he's pondering exactly that, once his contract expires (after two more albums). "Records are very powerful promotional tools to go out and be ableto play on the road," Lovett told Reuters, "but you do have to think about it as a way ofsustaining itself at some point. I'm very excited about being able todo some of that on my own, maybe."
this audio or video is no longer availableOn the other hand, Lovett's albums may have cost a fortune to produce,
considering the size of his Large Band and associated recording costs. The advances that paid for those recordings would disappear if he goesthe label-free route, in the style of Radiohead or Nine Inch Nails.
Possibly for that reason, Lovett sayshe'd entertain major label entreaties – but only if they can come up with some new ways to embrace technology in order to drive revenue. "Certainly if a major label isinterested in working with me afterthese next two records and is able to come up with a strategy that doesengage some of the new technology in a way that can benefit everybody,
I'd be very interested in that."
If he's been reading Listening Post, Lovett knows he can harness some sort of combination of CASH Music, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Sellaband/SliceThePie, TopSpin and TuneCore to make this happen on his own.
this audio or video is no longer availableWhile we're on the topic of Lyle Lovett, he did not pare down his Large Band for thelatest tour to save money on gasoline, contraryto widespread belief. "Thatmust have been a rumor," he told Rocky Mountain News. "In the summertime I always like to putsome version of the Large Band together. It doesn't have anything to dowith gas prices, but we don't have our horn section this summer. Wedecided for creative reasons to go a different direction." Lovett's current tour features the guitar work of Ray Herndon, who had played on some of his earliest records.
His latest album, It's Not Big, It's Large, debuted at number18 on the Billboard 200 chart last fall – a personal best.
It has since sold 145,000 copies, in another indication of justhow anemic traditional music sales have become.
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