Dark Horse Records Partners with BMG, Will Release New Recordings

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by vitorbastos123, Jan 22, 2020.

  1. vitorbastos123

    vitorbastos123 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    FABCAST Facebook page just posted this. Might as wel post here, might be good news for Harrison fans, even though they didnt said anything about George Harrison’s music specifically.

    DARK HORSE RECORDS PARTNERS WITH BMG, WILL RELEASE NEW RECORDINGS

    Los Angeles, CA – January 22, 2020 – BMG has announced a new multi-faceted global partnership with Dark Horse Records, the imprint led by Dhani Harrison and manager David Zonshine. The agreement initially brings releases from the acclaimed catalog of George Harrison’s legendary label Dark Horse Records and his Indian label imprint HariSongs, as well as Joe Strummer’s solo catalog, including his works alongside The Mescaleros.

    Dark Horse Records will also release new recordings through BMG including the current Tom Petty estate charity single ‘For Real – For Tom’ featuring Jakob Dylan, Dhani Harrison, Amos Lee, Lukas Nelson, Micah Nelson, and Willie Nelson.

    Available this Friday, January 24 on all digital platforms, the first slate of releases includes the George Harrison produced Ravi Shankar Chants of India, Ravi Shankar & Ali Akbar Khan In Concert 1972, Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros’ albums Rock Art and The X-Ray Style, Global A Go-Go, and Streetcore, and Attitudes – Ain't Love Enough: The Best of the Attitudes. Upcoming releases in 2020 include compilations, live albums, and box sets featuring rare and unreleased recordings from the Dark Horse label – many of which will be made available digitally for the first time ever.

    Dhani Harrison, said, “It is with great pleasure and excitement that I can finally announce a new chapter for Dark Horse Records in the music industry alongside our friends at BMG. The label started by my father in 1974 has been a family business my whole life (and is indeed even the reason that my parents met.) From the Indian classical Ragas of Ravi Shankar to the Rock and Roll of ‘Attitudes’ I look forward to reintroducing, to a new audience, all of those artists that my father loved so much. We will also be expanding the Dark Horse family with new artists and classic catalogues in the coming years to include a rich and varied roster of incredible musicians whom we love. Please watch this space! With love, Dhani Harrison.”

    David Zonshine, said, “BMG is the perfect home for us to expand, explore and create new opportunities for iconic artists across all platforms. I'm excited about this multi-faceted strategic partnership and taking a fresh approach to catalogs and publishing as well as looking to develop films and book projects around the world with BMG’s global team."

    Hartwig Masuch, BMG CEO, said, “Dhani and David have long been close with BMG. We are delighted to formalize our partnership with the two and begin our new venture as their trusted label home. We look forward to working closer together as we develop new catalog and publishing initiatives.”

    Thomas Scherer, EVP, BMG Los Angeles, said, “Dhani and David have done a fantastic job over the years proving themselves to be trusted guardians for some of music’s greatest treasures. BMG is proud to be the new home for this iconic music catalog.”

    Dark Horse Records joins BMG’s roster of iconic recorded catalogs which includes The Kinks, Nick Cave, and the solo works of Keith Richards and John Fogerty. BMG also publishes the catalogs of the estates of Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, Jim Croce and Willie Dixon, alongside administering the publishing of Aerosmith, Roger Waters, Cat Stevens, and Ringo Starr.

    Dark Horse Records was founded by George Harrison in 1974 as a place for his solo work and a home for supporting other artists. The label’s eclectic roster features Indian Classical legend Ravi Shankar, the band Attitudes (featuring Jim Keltner, David Foster, Danny Kortchmar, and Paul Stallworth), the duo Splinter (produced by Harrison), R&B vocal group The Stairsteps, American singer Keni Burke, and guitarist Henry McCullough (Paul McCartney and Wings, Joe Cocker and Spooky Tooth).

    The HariSongs label was created by the George Harrison Estate to celebrate the Indian classical music George loved and believed would “help as a balance towards a peaceful daily life.” The label was launched in April 2018 in honor of both Ravi Shankar’s birthday (April 7, 1920) and Ali Akbar Khan’s birthday (April 14, 1922).

    Joe Strummer was the British singer-songwriter and co-founder of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and punk icons The Clash. Strummer broke onto the scene in the mid-1970s with the proto-punk band The 101ers, which led to him being asked to front The Clash. After the seminal punk band split up in the mid-1980s Strummer pursued a career as a solo artist, scoring a number of movies as well as leading his band the Mescaleros.
     
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  2. Standard self congratulatory press release wankage, let’s see what they do. It’s a niche catalog that probably would not have gained notice other than a Beatle owning it. If digital releases are their big innovation, the bar is indeed low. Three legacy artists in George, Ravi, and Joe, let’s see what they’ve got.
     
  3. vitorbastos123

    vitorbastos123 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Some years ago they changed labels as far as Im concerned, and nothing came about that move. Lets see what happens.
     
  4. apple-richard

    apple-richard *Overnight Sensation*

    Already a thread started about this.
     
    longdist01 likes this.
  5. MGSeveral

    MGSeveral Augm

    OK, so Paul Weller records for Parlophone, and Joe Strummer is on Dark Horse.

    Coming up next: Morrissey signs to Ring-O records..
     
  6. vitorbastos123

    vitorbastos123 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Gorts should morph them together or delete this one
     
    hiterss likes this.
  7. BlueJay

    BlueJay Forum Resident

    Not sure why the other thread got closed. This one has a better thread title however, so let's continue with this. The main questions posed so far seem to be (a) whether or not these new Dark Horse releases will be digital only or digital and physical, and (b) whether or not these new Dark Horse releases will include any new George Harrison material. I think the answer to the second question is almost certainly no. George's catalogue has been licensed to Universal in recent years and I don't see why that would change. The answer to the second question is, I hope, both - digital and physical. But we'll have to wait and see. Certainly this Friday's releases seem to be digital only, at the moment.

    There is another question too. Where does this leave Dhani's own H.O.T. Records label? This has not been very active of late; the last physical release was in 2017 (Karen Elson's very excellent Double Roses album). I wonder if in future new artists who interest Dhani will have their stuff released on H.O.T. or on Dark Horse? Again, we'll have to wait and see.
     
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  8. longdist01

    longdist01 Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    Potentially this could see other artists from Dark Horse label era getting reissues finally...Splinter had a few albums on CD via Big Pink label (South Korea) and another batch CD's w/ basic transfers and card insert jewel cases from U.K. Greyscale/Gonzo multimedia labels. Anyway hope the floodgates are finally opening up soon Dhani!!
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2020
  9. BlueJay

    BlueJay Forum Resident

    Something doesn't add up here. In 2018 Dhani Harrison announced the digital only release of two of Ravi Shankar's albums (In Concert 1972 and Chants of India 1997) on the newly created Harisongs label. Now he's announcing the release of the same two albums as digital only releases on the newly re-created Dark Horse records. Why is this 'exciting news'? Seems like we already got these releases. What *would* be exciting is if he announced that these albums were being reissued on vinyl and cd.
     
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  10. vitorbastos123

    vitorbastos123 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Exactly what I was thinking.
     
  11. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    The original press release was going to say "boring news". But at the last minute, someone decided that "exciting news" would be a tad better. ;)
     
  12. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    What is ironic of course is that the combined sales of EVERYTHING on the Dark Horse label (minus George) would likely not even equal the sales of just an Early Takes Volume 2 by George.
     
  13. GubGub

    GubGub Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sussex
    Originally do you mean or these reissues?

    If the former, one caveat, Splinter's Costafine Town was a hit single in the UK at a time when you had to sell a lot of records to get in the top 20. It was actually a bigger hit than anything George put out on Dark Horse until All Those Years Ago in the UK. The parent album tanked though, sadly.

    I don't understand the Joe Strummer association with Dark Horse at all. I have the original issues of all those albums. They were nothing to do with Dark Horse then.
     
  14. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I just meant the reissues in the year 2020.
    I'm a big fan of the first 2 Splinter albums, but I doubt the total sales of those albums being reissued today would top 1000 copies. But maybe they are only making these albums available DIGITALLY, which doesn't involve any manufacturing costs.

    I presume that Joe Strummer's solo catalog was available, and it seems that Dark Horse Records bought the rights to release Joe's stuff. No direct relationship with the "OLD" Dark Horse label, but maybe the people in charge of the present-day label want to make Dark Horse into a cool niche record label.

    But as others have mentioned: This is all nice, but GEORGE is the one that we most care about. It would have been helpful to at least MENTION the status of George's solo material on the Dark Horse label in the press release, so as to provide some further context and/or clarity.
     
  15. GubGub

    GubGub Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sussex
    I agree. I'm anticipating digital only releases so will settle for my Big Pink/Greyscale CDs of Splinter. The one thing that would excite me, with talk of previously unreleased material, even if only in digital format, is if they put out the album of acoustic demos that Dark Horse pressed up in very limited quantities, not for public consumption. Many of the songs on it never made the studio albums.
     
    longdist01 likes this.
  16. vitorbastos123

    vitorbastos123 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I dont think they EVER acknowledge George's music in a press release. Its always "new and exciting releases", but, by who?
    Its obvious they actually dont want to acknowledge that because, for all this time, they never had a plan.
    I have a small hope they will announce something about George's music in the coming months,
     
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  17. GubGub

    GubGub Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sussex
    Is that such a big surprise though? As far as the Dark Horse material is concerned the Dark Horse box is already out there. Whatever we may think about its shortcomings, they probably figure it is done as far as that era of George's career is concerned.
     
    Lewisboogie likes this.
  18. Mark Wilson

    Mark Wilson Forum Resident

    I don’t know. They already released some of this digitally on the biggest digital platforms available and could’ve just continued that on the own.

    The only reason I can think of for partnering with a record label who has physical media capabilities... and thereby splitting profits with them... is to gain something you can’t do on your own.

    They were already selling on iTunes and so forth. What else would they gain with BMG?

    Mark
     
  19. Mark Wilson

    Mark Wilson Forum Resident

    Agree 100%!! I’ve listened to them on YouTube but a hopefully better sounding official release would be awesome.

    Mark
     
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  20. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I don't know either.

    How much profit could even a physical release of say Splinter's first album generate anyhow? It seems to me that any profits would be quite low under any circumstances.

    Then again, it might be a labor of love, so they aren't (overly) concerned about $$$.
     
    longdist01 likes this.
  21. BlueJay

    BlueJay Forum Resident

    I could certainly see a market for re-releases of some of Ravi Shankar's albums on vinyl. Some of his Classical albums have been reissued on vinyl over the last few years, so there would appear to be a steady demand for these. As announced a few weeks ago there are going to be some high profile centenary concerts for Ravi this year involving his daughters and, in some cases, Dhani Harrison. These events and the announced re-releases, in whatever format, are clearly linked. I remain cautiously optimistic that we'll see at least some of Ravi's back catalogue reissued in physical format. Top of the list (in terms of potential sales) would be his 1997 George Harrison collaboration Chants of India.
     
    longdist01 likes this.
  22. Mark Wilson

    Mark Wilson Forum Resident

    Maybe they expect the profits from Joe Strummers catalog to offset losses on the original Dark Horse releases!

    No seriously I’ve asked myself the same question about other physical releases of what-would-seem to be low profit potential stuff and yet they keep coming. New big box sets show up everyday on superdeluxeedition.com that make me wonder how many people could be buying them.

    One thing to consider is that physical media is still doing well in other markets like India and Japan, and presumably the HariSongs planned catalog would do well there. Even relatively obscure titles seem to do well in those markets, considering the number of fairly expensive reissues that show up on CDJapan every week.

    Mark
     
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  23. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Any one know if George ever commented directly about Joe Strummer and/or The Clash?

    EDIT: Not about The Clash per se, but related:
    From a 1979 interview with Rolling Stone magazine:
    Rolling Stone mag: Do you listen to any current music?
    George: I listen to Clapton, Elton John, Bob Dylan, those sort of people. I couldn’t stand punk rock; it never did anything for me at all.
     
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  24. johnny moondog 909

    johnny moondog 909 Beatles-Lennon & Classic rock fan

    The other thread, now merged with this one, was titled 'exciting news' or something similar.

    In my opinion this subject will start becoming exciting if & when, this new Dark Horse BMG partnership announces archival, previously unreleased George Harrison recordings & songs. For example Valentine, Brainwashed 2 or expanded, & or early takes 2 & so forth, unrealized Harrison 60s Beatles demos, finishing off half completed songs & recordings etc, maybe some Indian music with George H. Singing or playing lead, an lp or cd of Dylan-Hoagy Carmichael covers etc etc..

    Then it will be exciting.imho
     
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  25. omikron

    omikron Avid contributor to Paul McCartney's bank account

    Location:
    Lexington, KY
    Hellcat Records appears to still hold the Joe Strummer discography.

    Hellcat Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. The label, an off-shoot of Epitaph Records, was started as a partnership between the owner of Epitaph, Brett Gurewitz from Bad Religion and Tim Armstrong of Rancid, the latter of whom is generally responsible for signing the bands.

    The company still appears to be an independent label and a subsidiary of Epitaph that is also an independent label.

    I haven't found any info doing a quick search to suggest any changes.
     
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