cstmr srvc

Madonna's biggest challenge has always been her ambition to be even bigger, more mainstream, taken more seriously as an entertainer and not just a disco diva. Think, her movie career, her book, and her later-career "soy latte-praising" [good one, Maura] music. Some of this stuff is very good [I love "Don't Tell Me" and "What It Feels Like For A Girl" from Music], but it completely misses her fan base and is avoided by non-fans, many of whom see her as a washed-up disco diva, others of whom think that they are the ones who are too "mainstream" or "adult" to be buying a "Madonna" record. Madonna just doesn't seem to have whatever it would take to turn her into a McCartney or a Stewart.

So, yeah, this deal makes a lot of sense for everyone. WMG unloads an artist clearly on the downside of her CD-selling career, and won't have to deal with Jackson-like accusations that they are not marketing her new stuff aggressively enough. Live Nation gets a marquee entertainer with a proven record of selling out mega-venues. And Madonna gets a boat-load of money.

Rob Murphy

Bigggnasty

All that said, I agree with Maura that Warners was right to walk away. Confessions (which I loved) was a deserved comeback, but her remaining recorded output is going to continue to look like the last two records - one flop, one semi-hit - at best. I remembered thinking when Sony stole Aerosmith away from Geffen in the mid-'90s, at a similar point in their careers (the guys were all on the brink of 50 or just past), that it was nuts to think they could turn a profit with these geezers - as with Madge this year, at the time they still owed Geffen a studio record and a hits package. I think that deal ended up working out for Sony, because even though the post-'93 Aerosmith albums (Nine Lives, Just Press Play) sucked, they sold pretty well.

But Aerosmith has a classic-rock career to hang on, which will get heshers and Boomers to give their new stuff a try; all Madonna has, as she crosses the big five-oh, is her touring career, and that's going to turn into a Cher-style situation pretty soon: great attendance, glitzy but less-impressive production values, minimal new-music sales. I'm no Bronfman-and-Lyor fan, but props to them because they made the right call.

Chris Molanphy

Rob Murphy

Also, Stand Still, Look Pretty -- damn fine record.

But your point is spot on. A lot of Maverick's catalog looks to be film soundtracks, US releases from European DJs, and the like. None of the other current or former artists leaps out at me as a "big name".

Also, Lillix.

Rob Murphy

Al Shipley

30f

brainchild

brainchild

Rob Murphy

strunkenwhitey

Ned Raggett