Counting Crows Go Solo

The Counting Crows have given Geffen Records (Universal Music Group) the finger after 18 years.

Lead singer, Adam Duritz, says the band will go solo:

“the internet opens a world of limitless possibility, where the only boundaries are the boundaries of your own imagination.” Apparently UMG didn’t approve of breaking down some of those boundaries. Duritz added “Unfortunately, the directions we want to go and the opportunities we want to pursue are often things that our label is simply not allowed to do.”

Counting Crows will join Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and others who’ve explored releasing music outside of the normal label/distributor world. Labels are pushing all of their artists to sign 360 music deals that give them a cut of every revenue source, as CD sales have become pretty damn shaky. Without deals like this, the labels are unlikely to make money from some of their top artists after 2011 or so.