Not sure if this has been posted before.....

From USA Today


New Sony label geared toward gay artists


LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sony Music has teamed with the founder of a gay cable network to form a record label geared toward developing gay, lesbian and transgender recording artists.
The label, dubbed Music With a Twist, plans to employ talent scouts nationwide to find emerging artists who have generated a buzz in the gay community and have the potential for mass appeal.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The recordings will be released in a marketing partnership with the Sony Music Label Group, which includes Columbia Records Group, Epic Records, Sony Nashville and Sony Urban Music.

"It's a home that says to artists, 'We not only are OK with who you are, but we embrace that as part of your identity,'" said Matt Farber, president of Wilderness Media & Entertainment and founder of Logo, the MTV Networks channel targeting gay audiences.

Farber compared the concept of a record label focusing on gay artists to that of urban labels formed to nurture rap or hip-hop acts.

Twist plans to sign artists covering a variety of musical genres and also release compilations with songs by established artists.

Sony Music has also agreed to become a charter sponsor of a syndicated radio show, dubbed Twist, produced by Wilderness Media. The show is launching this weekend in several markets and online.

Imagine if they outed all their current artists by transferring them to this label

CinisterCee said:

Don't doubt it

CinisterCee said:

This ties in to a DJ trade magazine article I read on Friday touting something called "homohop".

Anyone hip to this?


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

aerdna25 said:

Hmm, I see. And they do that by segregating. Gay artists don't need their own label. This gaysploitation shit needs to stop.

"Farber noted that the success of brands dedicated to the African American and Hispanic audiences have also helped talent in these communities cross over well beyond their core audiences."

I am SOOO sick of this comparison. Homosexuality has NOTHING to do with race. Who you sleep with is your own damn business.
All of a sudden there's "gay" muisc? Whatever. Its just another angle to make money. America is fascinated with bisexuality right now.
How many times do they think that TaTu angle will work?
Well, at least now I guess somebody can really say "Who's dick do I have to suck to get signed here"

Full article here
[Edited 1/15/06 21:21pm]

CinisterCee said:

that would rock!

DynamicSavior said:

An interesting way of looking at it.

I see boycotts in Sony's future.

BlaqueKnight said:

The efficacy of this wider debate aside, I don't think Farber is making this broad a social statement. I think -- here at least -- he's invoking the marketing success of specifically "ethnic" music as a business tool for crossover.

As a gay man, I'm a bit suspicious of niche marketing -- as DynamicSavior suggests, it smacks of pimping. But if the goal is to highlight LGBT artists to garner pointed attention, I suspect it'll work.
[Edited 1/16/06 8:34am]

Sony's lost their freakin minds.

a lot of r&b and gospel female fans would be disappointed when their favorite male singers suddenly ended up on this new label

All theyre doing is expanding their marketing it seems, to be a little more targeted. I don't see what the fuss is. Perhaps they will start going after more specific gay publication to advertise for a given album, as opposed to placing an ad in Rolling Stone for example. Who knows. Worst case scenario, they'll put all their gay acts on this one label, then it will shut down, LOL.

they should sign Cher and Madonna once they're done with Warner ASAP.

the company parties should be festive

BlaqueKnight said:

You've never heard Rufus Wainwright's "Gay Messiah", I take it?

CinisterCee said:

Normally I think it's wrong to forcibly out someone, but if the major labels pulled a move like that I'd be smiling all week.

Lammastide said:

It all depends on the angle they take in doing this. If it's meant to empower LGBT's and give them more mainstream appeal I think it's worth a try, at least. But if it's a "hey, check out the fags and their faggy music" move it's pretty sickening.

BlaqueKnight said:

I think due to the fact that most gay artists even still fail to acknowledge gender in the songs they write (including your example Melissa Etheridge) shows that gay artists don't feel safe writing their records without being...



...ambiguous.

So, that's why empowerment is needed.
[Edited 1/17/06 8:22am]

CinisterCee said:

BlaqueKnight said:

Would Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy" be considered overtly homosexual? How about Erasure's "Chains Of Love"? I sing along to those songs whenever I hear them.

sextonseven said:

I don't know the lyrics to Chains Of Love and I don't know Smalltown boy at all.
Overtly homosexual would be anything that alludes to me and another man in a sexual situation. I wouldn't feel comfortable singing it anymore than I would singing Johnny Rebel's "n***er hatin' Me" or any other racist artist's lyrics.

As for empowerment; labels are in business to make money, not support causes. If there is a market and the gay community supports it, the label will keep running. Plain and simple. Business as usual.

BlaqueKnight said:

I wouldn't go so far as to equate a song about gay love to a song about hate, but if that's the way you feel...

to me this seems like segregation in the industry ( no surprise there) why generate a sub label for Gay/Lesbian artists when an artist should be known as an artist not by sexual preference.

DynamicSavior said:

do u feel the same way about genre specific music labels as well?
i mean i understand ur point,BUT i also think this might be good for gay people, hell even tho it was probably just a rumour remember the maxwell thread about sony pulling his record for having overtly gay themes? with a gay label that will never happen

CinisterCee said:

theAudience said:

theres a guy called qboy. really cute but not that good of a rapper

Moonwalkbjrain said:

I just don't like the way it sounds. It's like they have that "Gays go over HERE." Why should there be a designated label for "gay" artists or "gay" music? Seriously, what is the damn point? I forget what else I was gonna say, but it was gonna make sense...