Adele has just finalized a 90 million pound record breaking contract with Sony Music’s sister concern, Columbia Records.Biggest by a British artist, the deal is worth 135 million American dollars and 187 Australian dollars.
Although Adele’s Sony Record Deal is a long way from Michael Jackson biggest ever contract by any artist with Sony Music, worth more than $250 million American dollars in 2010..Adele’s contract with Sony is considered highly significant as music industry is going through uncertain times..with only half the albums sold by artists put together when compared with 2015.
2016 is a very bad year for western music, not a single track from any known artist has gained traction among those millions of listeners around the globe.Hence, Adele’s record contract with Sony has become extremely important and relevant from a ‘business and sales’ point of view.
Perhaps it is just a rough phase after the purple patch of 2015, that the music industry is going through right now.2015 as we all know was a phenomenal year for the music industry.
Adele’s “Hello”, Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk” , Elle Goulding’s “See You Again” , Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” , Justin Bieber’s “Sorry”, Drake’s “Hotline Bling” and Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” are just a few of the tracks that set the music charts on fire in 2015.
Some of these tracks, especially Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” , Adele’s “Hello” and Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” will go on to gain billions of views on YouTube,setting a record that is almost impossible to beat in the near future.
Not even a single track released in 2016 has crossed ‘the billion mark’ on YouTube, which implies the torrid phase the music industry is going through right now.
This is the reason Sony Music’s record-breaking Contract agreement with Adele has gained so much prominence.One has to wait and see, if Adele is able to fulfill Sony Music’s expectations in creating a certain number of albums.
No one can forget Mariah Carey’s fiasco of a record deal with EMI Records back in 2002, billed as the biggest contract at that time, Mariah released only one of five agreed albums, EMI ended the Contract..thankfully Mariah was bailed out by Virgin Records for 35 million pounds.
But there are other instances of successfully completed record deals especially Bruce Springsteen’s 2005 contract with Columbia Recordings worth $150 million,Jay Z’s $150 million agreement with Live Nation Records in 2008, Lil Wayne bagging a fortune worth $150 million with Young Money/Cash Money records.
But none of these contracts are a match for U2’s ginormous record deal worth $200 million with Polydor records, way back in the spring of 1993.The value of the American dollar has tripled since 1993, which when converted.. approximates around $600 million as on May 26th 2016.
This is Adele’s first record deal with a big name in the music industry as she was committed to a relatively low key London based XL Recordings, which released most of her successful albums including 21 and 25.
Adele Signs £90 Million Deal with Sony Music,Biggest by a British Artist
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