Why did Madonna leave Warner in the 1st Place ??

[Garry Howieson 91]

Being a madge fan since 1984, I've never researched why she decided to leave Warner after hard candy (sorry if this has been discussed before) ??

Seymour clearly knew a good thing when he saw it (bless u sir), and the fact they signed her to an "indie" offshoot that had the Ramones, Talking Heads, The Smiths (some of my favs as well)

The MTV generation clearly got on board and they brought in the big guns (Nile) then it went stratospheric

True blue (happy 35!), then Like a Prayer cementing her place in History as the "creamy smooth pop goddess" she is

Vogue (no words required)

Warners giving her the Maverick Deal, and one of the highest royalty rates in the biz, didnt end well (Although it didn't stop Jagged Little Pill earning them both a little little coin)

Releasing Erotica and Sex fucking the world off (one of her best)

Probably convincing to let her her tone it down with Bedtime Stories

And Those fucking awful songs with David Foster

Coming back and setting the world on fire with Ray of Light and Music.......

......and then again pissing them off again with American Life (another career highlight even though she was married to that git)

Coming back again with Hung Up (number one everywhere )and Confessions and the tour cementing her place in history

OK hard candy wasnt the best....but it had a few good tunes, but for that to go to interscope and basically come to EPIC FAIL.

(Just as context, I am a 49 year old straight man who had heard Holiday and Lucky Star on the radio when he was 12 years old and thought they were cool. Then saw the like a Virgin video on TV in Nov 1994 and basically woke up and got my sexual awakening and wanked myself silly over her and loved her ever since ;)) 

 

 

 

[Garry Howieson 91]

side note...I remember loving the pop shit when I was that horny teen, sitting in my dads car with him driving me and my brothers to the library and hearing a song on the radio that I had never heard before and liking it. Nice ballad. DJ announced thats the new song by Madonna. Blew my mind. (Didnt stop we wanking tho )

[Shoful 5,912]

Me following this and then seeing the multiple mentions of wanking…. 

[Ian 1,528]

Pettiness from both parties 

[deathproof 6,588]

$$$$$$$

[Ian 1,528]

23 minutes ago, Shoful said:

Me following this and then seeing the multiple mentions of wanking…. 

Why the face ? it's a healthy habit    

 

[Prayer 3,982]

Money

[artlover 3,014]

She was not inspired anymore 

[Roland Barthes 2,242]

Because she wanted more money, because she was mad at Warner because theu sued her regarding Maverick and she had to countersue them and because the music industry changed in 2007. Peer to peer and itunes killed the industry. Live Nation promised Madonna stuff they could not deliver like traditional record companies used to and they did as they went along, it did not work (manufacturing, distribution, promotion). Warner could not secure a touring contract and then artists thought that's where the money was gonna be in the future. Streaming killed what was left of the recording industry. She took a chance, made a lot of money, killed a lot of her artistry in the process. 

[Ryder 8,447]

Madonna would have to sell around 15m copies for each album recorded if stayed with Warner which we can all agree would have not happened. With Live Nation advanced $100m for her to sign with them for 10 yrs with an advance for $17m as well as another $50m in cash and shares and multimillion dollar windfalls for each of three albums she will commit to. With this new contract her name is a brand in merchandising, touring, sponsorships, etc...

[Shoful 5,912]

21 minutes ago, Ryder said:

Madonna would have to sell around 15m copies for each album recorded if stayed with Warner which we can all agree would have not happened. With Live Nation advanced $100m for her to sign with them for 10 yrs with an advance for $17m as well as another $50m in cash and shares and multimillion dollar windfalls for each of three albums she will commit to. With this new contract her name is a brand in merchandising, touring, sponsorships, etc...

What do you mean she would’ve had to sell 15M copies for each album? That was in the contract?

[artlover 3,014]

32 minutes ago, Roland Barthes said:

the music industry changed in 2007. Peer to peer and itunes killed the industry

P2P was already a thing in, like, 2003. They fought against technology. That was a lost battle to begin with.

[madgefan 9,208]

Well some might blame ageism, sexism and blah blah... but Madonna's made some really bad decisions in relation to the artistic promo for her albums and singles choices, especially during her Universal Music years. Give Me All Your Luvin' after 4 friggin' years? Devilish horns and a matador outfit no one cared about in the Living for Love video? Teaming up with a reggaeton singer just to see if shit stuck on the wall and it didn't work! A total nightmare. Who's the one to blame for the twilight of her career. Only herself. All those decisions don't sound as if she really asked for others' opinions. She only listens to herself, and that's why she's flopped since 2012.

We all know Warner would have cared. Even Celebration reached several Top 10s around the world. After that it all seemed like she just disappeared from the radar. And here we are, spending money on 10 versions of the same album and DVDs, buying concert tickets that get more expensive the older she gets, and discussing a soon-to-be has been.

LOL I've been harsh.

Sigh.

[Ryder 8,447]

20 minutes ago, Shoful said:

What do you mean she would’ve had to sell 15M copies for each album? That was in the contract?

For Warner the bigger risk would be to overpay for an artist that does not seem to be generating the revenue to support the contract when all money is mostly generated by touring. Madonna would have to sell around 15m copies of each of the concert promoter's three albums to recoup its investment on that piece of the deal.

[dylanlioncourt 4,029]

Because there were issues with both Madonna and Warner from single disputes, the lawsuits regarding Maverick and after her contract was over she more than likely sensed touring was the way to make a profit in the future hence why a lot of her ventures seemed outside of music while the music sort of took a backseat for a while. Thank goodness she felt inspired beginning with RH and fully with MX.

[Fabiolous 3,794]

Because Madonna is stubborn and thinks only she is a genius and everybody else is out to censor her. She would have been a lot more seccessful had she stayed with Warner. 

[Jackie 3,210]

I do wonder if it just came down to $$$ - there was no way that Warner were gonna match what Live Nation had offered her.

[lap 770]

She made a lot of money but lost her superstar status and relevance to the general public.

I miss Warner so much. 

[Rory 719]

You'll see 

[thegoldencalf 8,974]

2 hours ago, Let'sGetUnconsciousHoney said:

Because Madonna is stubborn and thinks only she is a genius and everybody else is out to censor her. She would have been a lot more seccessful had she stayed with Warner. 

She made a few brave decisions going agains her management and label that turned out to be great. And everyone started calling her a marketing genius. And it went to her head. 
Warner and her first 2 managers were a big part of her success though.

I think the main problem was never her switching labels. It was mainly her managing herself and being a know it all

[Régine Filange 2,301]

1 hour ago, lap said:

She made a lot of money but lost her superstar status and relevance to the general public.

I miss Warner so much. 

no social media started getting used around that time and everyone lost their superstar status, it would've happen even if she was with warner

[Régine Filange 2,301]

Ummmmmm Madonna would've keep selling more albums if she ACTUALLY cared to put decent albums out. MDNA during its first week sold ~750k as Hard Candy did. She had promo + people being interested to her music. The problem isn't that she left Warner, but that she released MDNA after Hard Candy and lowered the standards of her music twice. Then people dragging her for her age became easier. If Rebel Heart was released in 2012 it would've done same numbers as Hard Candy, four million, i'm sure. 

[dontmindus 270]

3 hours ago, madgefan said:

She only listens to herself, and that's why she's flopped since 2012.

OMG LOOOOL that's so true! I would say she also listen to her five year old children for career advice

[me1981 1,241]

I feel like Seymour (who ran Sire at the time M was signed, not WB) gets too much credit. Michael Rosenblatt was far more instrumental in Madonna's early rise. Seymour more than likely signed her in part because of Rosenblatt, who guided her very early career. Not that Seymour did nothing, he did and should be credited too of course. 

M had been having issues with WB for a while, especially where Maverick was concerned. I do think there was some bad blood there and when Live Nation (who to that point, had only been in charge of her recent tours) came out with the massive 360 deal, WB couldn't match it and M walked. We also don't know how much Guy O may have convinced her it was the right thing to do. I don't say this to slag him.

I do also wonder if M and Guy R were done when she signed the deal in 2007. On Madonnatribe in 2007 or early 2008 there was a post from some anon that said M and Guy were going to divorce but she wanted to wait until promo for the album was done so she wouldn't need to deal with the publicity and they could split quietly. Everyone responded that the poster was a moron. I have never been able to find the post since. If this was true, maybe in 2007 she decided to throw herself into work and the ten year deal was attractive as it meant work, work, work. She has admitted to signing to tour a long schedule and then regretting it. 

[me1981 1,241]

58 minutes ago, thegoldencalf said:

She made a few brave decisions going agains her management and label that turned out to be great. And everyone started calling her a marketing genius. And it went to her head. 
Warner and her first 2 managers were a big part of her success though.

I think the main problem was never her switching labels. It was mainly her managing herself and being a know it all

Yeah I do have to agree with this. I also think Guy O, unlike Freddy, caves into her more. I think Freddy would stand up to her and knew how to convince her that certain things were best for her, while stroking her ego. I think Guy and M are too close as friends and it is harder to be tough with a friend.