Idolator: tvt

Lil Jon's "Crunk Rock" Free From Its TVT Prison

Dan Gibson — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Lil Jon's having a great day! He finally escaped the clutches of TVT Records, although it took TVT's bankruptcy and purchase by the digital-music distributor The Orchard for this glorious moment to come about. Lil Jon has agreed to withdraw his massive lawsuit against the Orchard in exchange for the rights to his long awaited masterpiece Crunk Rock, while The Orchard gets to keep his catalog and reissue it digitally. Sounds like a win/win. Make your own "WHHHAAAAT?" or "YEEEAHHHH!" joke here. [Marketwatch]

TVT: They Owe A Lot Of People A Lot Of Money

Maura Johnston — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:30:00 EDT

Which is why you should check out the bankruptcy-protected label's list of unsecured creditors, just to make sure that you aren't on it. For those of you who are pretty sure that you don't need cash from TeeVeeToons, Inc., there's still good reading to be had: The label owes $26,883.50 to SoundScan, and $1,300 to the now-defunct Harp, Also, their accounts payable department has apparently neglected to send a $945.46 check to Chad Kroeger for some time, and I for one would love to know why. [scribd via Coolfer]

TVT founder Steve Gottlieb refutes the rumors ...

Maura Johnston — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:45:15 EST

TVT founder Steve Gottlieb refutes the rumors that his label is going the way of the dodo, saying that yesterday's staff-cutting will actaully make the label stronger: "We have been an agent of change, most notably fighting for respect for independents when most major media and trade outlets minimized their role, and fighting for industry change in the digital arena whether in our breaking ranks and settling with Napster in 2001, or in numerous other initiatives. I am optimistic that the company's independent spirit, history of innovation and willingness to pioneer new music and new business models are more valuable in this marketplace than ever before and that we will emerge from this reorganization a stronger more vibrant entity." Also, he claims that the company's going to continue promoting Pitbull's album, although if you ask the Miami rapper what "continue" means you'll probably get an answer that involves the words "jack" and "shit." [Hits]

We Read The Comments On Trent Reznor's "Ha Ha, TVT Is Toast" Post So You Don't Have To

Maura Johnston — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:45:37 EST

Especially because there are, at present, 596 responses to the cryptic post above, which Reznor posted last night, shortly after the news of his former label's imminent doom broke. And who wants to slog through a bunch of Internet fanboys/fangirls' incoherent ravings when there's someone around who's not only willing to do so, but willing to neatly categorize them for you?

CATEGORY 1: The easily confused.
Because they didn't realize that the text of Trent's blog post was, in fact, a hyperlink to the AllHipHop.com story breaking the news. Prone to using lots of punctuation.

Anonymous said...

????? Trent stop confusing me!!!!!!

18/2/08 6:50 PM

CATEGORY 2: The people who are just psyched to be there right now, man.
Or, people who don't really understand the Internet (blog-comment division).

Anonymous said...

TR Holaday again from Oklahoma City. thanks Trent for filming Halo 22 Beside You In Time here at the Ford Center. Oklahoma loves their NIN!!! Tool twice in six months!!! riddle117@aol.com

18/2/08 7:00 PM

CATEGORY 3: The pick-up artists.
Also known as the people who think that nin.com is actually hookupwithtrent.com.

iwannalicktrentswholeentirebody said...

I find it extremely sexy that you're happy about this. They deserve it.

18/2/08 10:02 PM

CATEGORY 4: The business-school dropouts.
The spelling lesson that covers "clientele" is clearly in the second-year curriculum.

ChristySue33 said...

Someone had said they felt sorry for all those people that lost their jobs. Here's my take. They were working for a company who's cliental were unhappy. Publicly unhappy. One client so unhappy he was actually telling his fans NOT to buy his cd. Clients were looking for ways out of their contracts ... which means, they were not going to renew when it reached it's end (if that's how it works). If you ask me, they had plenty of red flags. If they were smart, they would have prepared themselves, gotten new jobs lined up. I would have. How many people are we even really talking about here? It's not like we're talking about an entire series of factories closing down. They don't make the cd's, they just promote them. As for the CEO's of the company, too bad so sad ... I do not feel sorry for them at all. If they had treated their cliental more fairly maybe they wouldn't be in this position in the first place.

19/2/08 3:25 AM

CATEGORY 5: The people with obvious issues.
This could also be called "the people who forgot that they weren't at quirkyalone.com."

Hybrid 756 said...

Oh aye. WHY does everyone think everyone "needs" a woman, or a man, or another person or whateveritis?

IS ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE COMPLETELY OK WITH SOLITUDE???

Or am I just a complete fucking freak??

I don't understand people...

/rant

19/2/08 5:08 AM

CATEGORY 6: The confronters.
Who aren't afraid to step up and call the site's proprietor an asshole. (Hey, maybe he'll write a song about them now!)

robster said...

love your music trent but, can`t stand how you applaud the loss of people`s jobs and all the strain the falling of a record label will cause to its creditors, employees, artists and associates. Makes you sound like a REAL asshole. What about the upcoming artists without a large fanbase, instead record companies will focus investing in safe music and the artform itself will suffer

19/2/08 1:35 AM

CATEGORY 7: The people who should maybe think about getting blogs of their own.
Characterized by long-windedness, mutiple posts, bad spelling, despondency, and a curious need to bring Paris Hilton into their argument.

ChicLuba said...

ooo sounds like TR "might"( please take notice of this word) be a little pissed about something.

Very curious...

what did I miss?

was there another shotty interview?

18/2/08 9:36 PM

ChicLuba said...

Agreed, but it depends on whether he's getting paid for his work or just his face. Now it seems that art itself is not enough, you have to be an icon...

Which is detrimental to all artists.

Because without an audience to enjoy their work what is an artist?

It's ok to be an icon if you really are making art, because more than likely you'll inspire others, but it's not ok if your already an icon, and you just slop some shit together and call it art just to make money.

That is what's called a Paris Hilton... Although how she ever came to be an icon in the first place is beyond me...

what just because you're rich all of a sudden your famous, I mean I'd understand if she was contributing to charities, and doing philanthropy work or something like that, but becoming famous jst because she comes from a rich family...

What is the world comming to?

what happened to our standards?

18/2/08 9:47 PM

ChicLuba said...

chicluba, the text is a link.you must click it and read the story.

18/2/08 9:40 PM

oh! lol I feel like such a dummy, I didn't even notice =P

and I'm talking about the Cnet bs that went on a little while ago, taking someones words out of context to fit your purpose... that's not a very honorable way to report something.

18/2/08 9:50 PM

ChicLuba said...

oh wow... you know I haven't heard about TVT till now...

I'm so out of the loop >.>

18/2/08 9:53 PM

ChicLuba said...

ok first things first, lets not start putting words in my mouth...

I have no clue if Paris is a slut nor do I care to know considering it's none of our god damned businss to begin with, someone's sex life should be kept personal and not a public matter, that's just like what they did to clinton, people try to use it as ammo to tear someone down but in reality does that shit really fucking matter...

When I was younger I lived in a small town called Live Oak, we liked to call it Dead Oak, because the extent of fun you could have was going to a bowling ally, or doing drugs and making babies...

During a party I had gone to I ended up getting a little too drunk and made out with my room mate, which also happened to be a girl. Some people, without my knowledge, took pictures and the next thing I knew the wholetown knew about it and I was a "lesbian". BS of course and my reputation was ruined for a period of time, but in the end it didn't change the minds ofmy real friends, because they knew who I really was despite my drunken exploration.

Some people like to be taped when having sex... It turns them on, and whatever to each his own, but I don't think they should be condemned for it...

Now on the other hand, before Paris got into singing, before she did acting or any other form of entertainment, even before that stupid "Simple Life" BS, which I'm actually dissapointed in them for because they were really dicks to some of the people that took them in.

but before all that she was just some rich socialite, and that's what she became famous for, being a rich socialite, and that is where I think we have fallen off the mark as an audience, I mean sure it lead her to have an interesting career, I'm not going to say great, because personally I don't like her, but whatever, but this industry, whether you're an artist or a musician or a writer, is incredibly hard to get into, and I don't think it's really fair for people who have money to be able to just be famous just for having money...

think of all the artists who don't have money, but are on a much higher level of creativiy than PH, but they struggle because they don't have the cash flow to back them up...

I don't think art should be free, artists should be compensated for that hard work, and time and effort they put into it... it'snot as easy as snappin your fingers and it's done, I mean look at Piccaso, the man went in sane and chopped his ear off for the sake of art/ or love, but I mean that's well worth compensating him!

but I do think that it should be easier to get into the industry... so what you have to sort through a few crappy bands and artists to get to the good ones, it makes it like finding a diamond in the rough... it's well worth it if it brings some real art to the table...

who knows maybe the next "Einstein" of music is out there, but because he doesn't have money he can't do anything for us.. and I think that's a shame.

19/2/08 6:50 AM

(There's more. I'll spare you.)

CATEGORY 8: The people who in all likelihood do have blogs of their own and are probably penning their own version of this post right now.
Self-explanatory after you read the sample comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi I'm an excited anonymous commenter who has no idea what's going on or what this post even means but damned if that's going to stop me from saying something! Anything! It doesn't matter what it is, just that I say it here, preferably very quickly after the initial post is made! Just for the fleeting novelty of leaving some text on this temporary page - a disposable piece of nothing to help half a minute of my boring life pass by a little faster! Nine Inch Nails woooo!

18/2/08 6:59 PM

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Earlier: TVT Fires Most Of Its Staff, Is Expected To File Chapter 11

TVT Fires Most Of Its Staff, Is Expected To File Chapter 11

Maura Johnston — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:53:51 EST

Last night, the New York-based label TVT Records fired the bulk of its staff, and it's expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection later this week. TVT, which started in 1985 as a label devoted to bringing the television themes of yore together on the Television's Greatest Hits compilations, had a roster of artists that at one time included Nine Inch Nails, and currently includes the Polyphonic Spree, Lil Jon, and the Ying Yang Twins. Trouble has been brewing at the label for a while: In 2005 Lil Jon had a public spat with label president Steve Gottlieb (although the two have since reunited, and TVT was supposed to release his forthcoming album Crunk Rock sometime soon), and a few weeks ago, another member of the label's roster, Pitbull, told his fans that they should download, and not buy, his recent album The Boatlift because Gottlieb didn't deserve to profit from his work:

"When I tell y'all [not to buy my record], it's not because I don't want you to support me," the rapper said in an interview on Latina.com. "It's because I don't want you to support what this man [TVT President Steve Gottlieb] is doing to an artist that everybody knows is humble, a hustler and a grinder."

Despite having those at the label who support him, the root of Pitbull's discontent, according to the rapper, is TVT President Steve Gottlieb.

"My problem is with the president, and he knows that," said Pitbull. "When you don't clear me for a DJ Khaled album, when you don't clear me for a Janet Jackson record, hardly cleared me so I had to fight tooth and nail to get on the Gloria Estefan record...I bust my ass for [TVT].

"I'm out here working like a slave, doing things that other artists don't even know how to do," the rapper continued. "A label's there to further and promote your career, but it feels like they just keep holding me back."

Well, it looks like Pitbull won't have to worry about being held back anymore, although I suspect that this situation is going to turn into one of those "careful what you wish for"-type deals.

BREAKING NEWS: TVT Filing Chapter 11; Staff Fired [AllHipHop.com]