No Rock And Roll Fun

STRANGE CHOICES: All we ever hear from the BPI, RIAA and IFPI is how hard it is being a poor, benighted record company these days; it's a constant struggle against pirates, terrorists, gangsters and schoolkids trying to put them out of business. It's enough to make you wonder why they still bother.

And yet: lots of perfectly sound and well-run comapnies figure that they're able to make money out the industry. Cicrque DU Soliel, for example, last week announced they're starting a label, and presumably they'll have done a business plan that shows them they're going to be making enough profit to make it worthwhile hiring a sexy intern to drill the little holes in the back of the review copies.

Likewise, Nickelodeon. Part of the Viacom empire, you wouldn't expect them to make a move without first having run it through Excel a couple of times. So, if the music industry is such a harsh place to be, why is Nickleodeon starting a record label?