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Stones' studio runs out of time
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent16.12.08
ONE of London's most famous recording venues, which has hosted the likes of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, could close over financial problems.
Owners EMI are in consultation with staff about the future of the Olympic Studios in Barnes because they are not making money. But 11 staff were warned on Friday that EMI believes they are no longer viable.
"The fact is the studios are not profitable, like many British studios," a source said. "You can't get as much business as you used to in the past. And there's no sign of that situation improving."
If confirmed, Olympic's demise would follow a string of studio sales and closures this year including the TownHouse, Heathman's Mastering and Alchemy. Technological advances in home-recording equipment have contributed to the crisis.
But the closure threat prompted an outburst of nostalgia and criticism on music websites. Madeline Bell wrote on the Music Week site: "This is simply more proof that real music, instruments and musicians are not required in the 21st century."
But it is understood that EMI remains committed to Abbey Road, its most famous studios, where plans are under way for further development.
The original Olympic Sound Studios were set up in the late Fifties. They moved to the current location in Barnes in 1966 and stars have recorded there every decade since.
The Rolling Stones were among the first to use the new facilities with tracks for the album Between The Buttons and then the next six albums - including Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers.
Led Zeppelin recorded their first record there in 1968, and followed it with tracks for all their albums until 1975. Jimi Hendrix used the studios to record Are You Experienced? - and in the Seventies it was where Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice recorded their rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar, as well as the score to the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Eric Clapton recorded Wonderful Tonight there, and the Eighties saw clients including Duran Duran, Roxy Music and Spandau Ballet.
The Spice Girls recorded their first two albums in Barnes in the Nineties, while Roger Waters mixed the live recording of The Wall after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Stars from Barbra Streisand to Matt Monroe passed through its doors - while the jingles for adverts such as R Whites lemonade are also part of the studios' history.
The studios boast that they won Music Week's best studio award five times.
Reader views (6)
In the mid 1950s Angus Mckenzie owned Olympia Sound in Fulham, then opened Olympic Sound Studios in Carton Street, off Baker St. The historic building had been the French Chapel Royal during the French revolution. Early commercials - Lyril soap, Bird's Eye Peas. Steve Race, Josh McCrae, Frankie Vaughan and many others worked there. Angus went blind in 1959, the lease was ending, and Carton Street was set to be totally destroyed and overbuilt, so Olympic Sound was sold, and became Olympic Studios in Barnes.
- Fiona, northampton UK
quite right steve,talent and getting on never had much to do with each other,the x factor has ruined real music ,the learning curve of going up and down the country hoping some a&r peoplemight just see you, not anymore, its all about the quick hit, and ten year olds saying they wanted this all of their life.a joke isnt it, but things have a habit of turning
a full circle,even the pumpkins have said no more albums,people dont listen to them , they will just do singles and play small venues, i hope others will follow
- Les, crowborough england
The elephant in the room, the one that is stomping on studios like Olympic and goring songwriters, musicians, producers et al, is the internet. How can anyone make money with music if no one is paying for it? Yes there is truth in these responses - a lot of music out there is total dreck, the record industry is run by buffoons, etc. - but these factors have ALWAYS existed. Remember The Archies people? No, the problem is the money is gone.
The answer to all of our woes lies in monetizing the internet. We aren't going to convince people to voluntarily pay for music, not by wheedling and pleading nor by legal intimidation. What people don't seem to realize is that there are many major corporations making serious money from music - it's just not getting to the creators of that music. I'm referring to ISPs that are charging hefty monthly fees to subscribers and providing them access the free illegal downloads with impunity. There are over 91 million monthly subscribers to ISPs in the US alone. Those same ISPs in turn lease bandwidth from even bigger corporations, such as SBC (AT&T). Apple Computers has sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 million iPods. According to Steve Jobs only 3% of the music on the average iPod has been purchased thru iTunes - the rest is ripped or purloined off the net. Clearly Apple, the plethora of ISPs, and the companies that own the internet infrastructure have been profiting beautifully - but where would they be without the artists?
- Richard Gibbs, Malibu California USA
As Jane said really, with studios being so expensive and studio time being thin on the ground for young bands, we cant expect alot, and with the big labels signing the rubbish we see o xfactor and such, its no wonder that classic places like this start to fade out.
The pioneering country of rock and roll is dying out because only US companies seem to be interested in Rock groups these days, even though the talent is still here!
- Ste, Stourbridge
Perhaps if studios like Olympic weren't so expensive they'd get more young bands in. Oh I forgot, we're in Rip-Off Britain.
- Jane, London
With crass acts like the contestants of the X Factor now dominating the 'music' scene,sadly there is little room for recording studios in this day and age.
In a nutshell,no one actually plays a musical instrument anymore,nor would they know how.
- Steve, London
