Jewel and Universal Music Group

[piecesofuk]

I've noticed that Jewel has her own page on UMG's website (http://www.universalmusic.com/artist/Jewel) and Stronger Women has been added to UMG's YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLeRBov9AoI). I wonder if this will mean that UMG will be releasing Jewel's new album outside the US. As far as I'm aware they're only the distributors for Big Machine/Valory in the US.

Chris.

[Little Bird]

I think you're right Chris. It's not being released to a lot of countries though so can't imagine it will be in many, if any countries outside the US except Canada.

[JewelWiki]

That's a good theory! Let's hope it's true!

[piecesofuk]

Looks like UMG have started to crack down on Jewel's videos on YouTube, they're claiming ownership of all versions of the official Stronger Woman video (including Valory's) and disabling embedding :(

Chris.

[louloublu]

It's funny you mention Universal cos I was only wondering about her contract with them today. Isn't Jewel still under contract with them for one more album? Remember all the speculation that they would release a Beat of. Perhaps their distribution of PC outside the US is her get-out clause with them.

Oh and also jerks for the YouTube thing. Jerks I tells ya!

[JewelWiki]

Yeah I got a thing about it for my Stronger Woman video.

It's funny, because my video doesn't show up in searches for Jewel or Stronger Woman...it makes me wonder if they have some sort of visual search as well

[piecesofuk]

It's funny you mention Universal cos I was only wondering about her contract with them today. Isn't Jewel still under contract with them for one more album? Remember all the speculation that they would release a Beat of. Perhaps their distribution of PC outside the US is her get-out clause with them.

Oh and also jerks for the YouTube thing. Jerks I tells ya!

Jewel's original recording contract was with Atlantic, she's finished with them although I expect they'll release a Best Of one day.

As far as I know Universal were just the distributors for Valory, Valory are supposed to be an independent label. But I wonder what their actual relationship is.

Chris.

[piecesofuk]

Yeah I got a thing about it for my Stronger Woman video.

It's funny, because my video doesn't show up in searches for Jewel or Stronger Woman...it makes me wonder if they have some sort of visual search as well

If it's this one http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mXt2kHCaBbg then you'll need to add some tags for it to show up in the search.

Chris.

[JewelWiki]

I never wanted to tag it because I didn't want it to show up in searches..thinking that would keep the videos up. I wonder if the people looking for infringing videos can do partial word searches.

[Sam78]

I thought as a rule country albums rarely sell very well outside the States. In fact, I thought that was the rationale that Kelly Clarkson fans and RCA use to claim that Kelly Clarkson is still a bigger seller than Carrie Underwood. If that's the case, then I would doubt that Jewel's record gets distributed outside of North America. Maybe some English-speaking parts of Europe where she's very popular? Are there such parts of Europe?

[Little Bird]

Country sales are quite good here in Ireland but in very regional areas. It's certainly not a widespread interest and it's also a particular type of country music. I don't know how Jewel's album would be received her in that market as the fans of country here tend to be of an 'older generation'. But if it is a case that UMG are thinking of distrbuting it elsewhere, then it would be good if they included Ireland to even capture a small number of worthwhile sales. Who knows.

As for YouTube, it could simply be that one of the staff have been given the task of trekking Jewel's fansites for links to YouTube to find videos other than those tagged. Wolf in sheeps clothing so to speak.

[louloublu]

Never mind me, I mixed up Atlantic and Universal. Like you said piecesofuk perhaps they'll release a Best of Jewel someday. I still it'd be a great way to introduce her to newer, younger fans that wouldn't be aware as it is well over 10 years since the success of POY.

Kiera, like you said I can't see there being much of a market for Jewels country album here. A lot of the country that is popular here is so so eye-wateringly bad (banjo-whackery I like to call it) that I can't see Jewels more subtle country effort making any impact. Especially without any marketing or touring.