Music

Why Kid Rock is Re-Recording Devil Without a Cause

When you sign a contract to make a record for a label, you sign over ownership of the master recording of that album to the label.  That master tape/music file is theirs to exploit under the terms of the contract.

Acquiring ownership of master recordings becomes a career goal for many artists, although few are able to achieve that dream.  U2 managed it, but they’re a huge exception.

Labels are loathe to give up something they own.  This explains why Def Leppard is re-recording all their old songs–i.e. creating new master recordings.  They want more control over their music and creating new masters is one way to do it.

Kid Rock is about to do the same thing with Devil Without a Cause. He doesn’t own the masters to the eleven-times-platinum record, so he’ll need to do the record again.  And that’s fine with him.  From The Hollywood Reporter:

“Some of them will be exactly like they were and some of them will have the sensibilities of what we’ve learned playing those songs live for 15 years,” he says. “I’m not going to say they’re going to be better than the originals; that’s tough to top. But I think there’s something special about them that people will dig. They’re going to be the way a lot of people have seen us play these versions live, whether it’s ‘Bawitdaba,’ ‘Cowboy,’ ‘Only God Knows Why,’ ‘…Bullgod,’ ‘Welcome 2 the Party’ “…We’ve twisted them up so much to where it’s very interesting, very cool.”

More here.

 

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 37980 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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