Richard Brincklow, half of Brincklow Counsell, had a picture in UK music biz journal Music Week last week, celebrating (or panicking) that the band in which he plays keyboards has made a revolutionary record deal.

IE Management, who also manage Robbie Williams, have raised over a million pounds stirling from investors to launch the band. Usually this money would come from a record label, which would consequently own the master recordings. Instead, IE and Passenger have kept control by simply raising the money from a more cost effective source, and then, not being tied down to one label's services, have been able to outsource all the functions a label would normally provide, such as PR, publicity, marketing, manufacture, plugging, etc.

We wish Richard and Passenger all the best for taking control and responsibility for their own future in music.