hey all
i recorded the miab berlin show last year with 17 cameras as they were supporting my favourite band front line assembly on that tour, which we also recorded. lately i made a demo video from the miab recordings, and the band said that its easily their best video to date. so i thought 'hey thats cool, i could also film the miab show on amphi festival 2011 and then release both shows on dvd'. then i approached stefan herwig and asked him how much money he would ask for to give us the rights to release the song material. miab have left dependent recently, but the label holds the rights to the backcatalogue. stefan refused to work with me at all and didnt even have a proper conversation.
he bases this on 'my' stunt regarding the FLA promo video for Angriff that i produced last year. the video was made from amphi festival live recordings professionally filmed with a +10.000eur recording setup, world war 2 footage, and extra footage recorded by me. production cost me 10-14 days. i had ca 30 email and 10 phone conversations with stefan herwig between july and october, all regarding the video and improving it. i wasnt interested in receiving a professional payment, which wouldve been about 1500eur for such work... however he said that he would be okay with paying 300-400eur for the world war 2 footage alone if necessary. based on that i calculated 300-400eur for the entire video. after the video was released late october with good critical response, i asked him to pay me, and he said 'wtf i never agreed to paying any money for this'. after a few enjoyable weeks he finally changed his mind and transferred it.
at this point of time it seems he is still very pissed off about my behaviour. but should that concern mind.in.a.box? i am very very sceptical if he should use his authority in order to decide what the band is supposed to do after leaving his record label. stefan posted the following reasons to explain why HE has decided to make a miab dvd impossible:
- I was not too excited by MIABs live performance. It was ambitious, yet flawed in more than one way. I dont think the world needs a MIAB DVD right now anyway. I think the bands needs to get much better live, before a DVD should be produced.
- Whoever produces the DVD it should not be you. I will not work with you ever again, as you are idealistic, yet, utterly business incompatible and utterly clueless when it comes to the nateure of a business collaboration.
wait, is this person stefan herwig, chief of miabs ex record company? by reading those reasons i tend to ask myself if he is the bandboss/manager of miab. he tells me and the band that their live performance isnt good enough, and he advices the band not to work with me. i wonder if he also tells the band what underwear they are allowed to wear in the tourbus.
i'm not expecting any income from releasing a miab dvd, and i didnt expect more than a very basic coverage of cost for the angriff clip. i'm doing this, like stefan said, in a rather idealistic approach.
dependent records doesnt seem to be very idealistic. i cant really believe how relentless stefan is celebrating his animosity towards my person and puts it higher than business. and i find it annoying that he blocks a miab dvd while the band and he have parted ways anyways.
by sharing this experience in business i would like to warn the bands and artists in this scene. by signing to dependent records you put your band and your music in the hands of someone whose ego is more important than your band and your music. be careful.
cheers
henrik bauer
links:
http://www.henrikbauer.com
(closed) thread on dependent forum: http://forum.dependent.de/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2038&start=15
angriff promo clip:
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