Abbey Road up for sale

quote:

Originally posted by Jet Johnson:
.....I wonder what the average American would say if (say) the Sun Studios were to be sold off to a foreign buyer??

Whatever the News Media tell them to think I expect ...

Who sets the agenda for the News Media? Interests! Sometimes it is in the interests of politicians for example, to mention something completely insignificant, but emotive, never the less, to distract from their dreadful handling of the essentials ...

ATB from George

Is Abbey Road a fully working studio? If so keep it.

Is it making money though , is another question.

As regards all the old equipment being sold off "for peanuts in the '80s", I seem to remember a studios worth of working, 4 and 8 track valve equipment, recovered from storage, being shown on a documentary about making the Love album.

Essentially it is a well built buidling, well specified for its time in the late twenties. Not much recording takes place there now as the pop style of recordings tend to be made in specialised studios elsewhere, and the classics tend to be much too expensive to record in London at all these days. There are many finer recording halls in London that are used in preference these days, such as the Henry Wood Hall and the BBC Maida Vale Studio, let alone Watford Town Hall [one of the best]. And so the old studio. which once had some of the best technical equipment in the world [first stereo 78s made there in 1934 for example] no longer has any unique selling point that makes it preferable to anywhere else.

Naxos makes far more recordings [throughout the world] than anyone does in the Abbey Road complex these days.

If someone is prepared to buy it without state aid, then good luck to them, but commercially I would say its days have been numbered for more than twenty years.

ATB from George

Very interesting George, thanks for that info.

I read several years ago some LA rock band heard of a studio in LA being sold that had "old" equipment. They checked it out and it was all analogue tubes, boards and tape, no digital so they bought it and encouraged all their friends to record there. I"ve not remembered their name or the studio but it was nice to hear that they tried to save and promote a classic sound.

Abbey Road Studios is not a Listed Building, and it's in the middle of a prime residential area, so the chances are that it will be bought for around £25million, bulldozed and redeveloped as flats.

So, please, you romantics who think that all will be as before, don't get too carried away with ideas about a museum, or whatever.

National Trust sounds good to me. They can add it to the list which includes the Beatles homes in Liverpool (Menlove Ave & Forthlin Drive).

Kit out Studio 2 with the best Naim system that money can buy and play the Beatles master tapes. You'll have queues round the block

Buying the studios as a museum or NT is not the way to go. A museum is nothing but a statue, a non-working facsimile, a shell of a building that is missing the purpose of what it did. The old 2 4 & 8 track machines have all long gone, I guess the mixing desks are 5 or 6 updates down the line, the rooms have all be updated a number of times, the building shell holds nothing in musical or recording terms.

Abbey Road is not just "the" Beatles recording studio. In terms of output the Beatles fall into a position more at the back of the Abbey Road inventory. The studio was responsible for huge numbers of other recordings - especially classical.

What we need to happen IMO is whoever buys the business (not the building) needs to develop the recording excellence & that can be anywhere (as long as its still in UK - please)
Then the building can do what it will, maybe a museum, but I don't see that being a viable business once the newness has worn off. In hard arsed business terms its worth more torn down.

Will the buyer get all The Beatles master tapes thrown in?

Seriously ... I wonder what will happen to those. At present they are stored in a very secure climate controlled room.

quote:

Originally posted by Doctor Jazz:
Will the buyer get all The Beatles master tapes thrown in?

No. Terra Firma are trying to make as much money as possible by selling off assets to pay Citigroup off. It's EMI's most lucrative catalogue full stop. They wouldn't just give it away. If anything, Beatles catalogue would be the next thing to sell off (and possibly worth more than the studio!)

McCartney speaks out! (guess he isn't going to by it then!)
http://www.clashmusic.com/news...artney-on-abbey-road

As I said, it will be bulldozed and gone within the year, unless someone who wants a studio buys it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by munch:
Pink Floyd could buy it cash pound notes. [/QUOTE)so could paul.

quote:

so could paul.

Stephenson? So his recent trip to Ronnie Scotts was a smokescreen - we are looking at a possible new home base for the Naim Label.

quote:

Originally posted by graham55:
As I said, it will be bulldozed and gone within the year, unless someone who wants a studio buys it.

it won't be bulldozed. even if you stripped out the studio (the gear is worth a lot!) it would make a prime dwelling for a rich arabian prince or superstar. or flash apartments. because of the history its some of london's most prime real estate.

on the studios opening session Sir Edward Elgar conducted the LSO. Far too much history for it to be torn down.

The Motown studio in Detroit is now a museum dedicated to the music it produced, with many original instruments, mixing desks etc still in place.
Although its far smaller than Abbey Road (its not much more than a small-ish house in a terraced row!), maybe Abbey Road could/should deserve similar status? Although as previously suggested, the price of land/property in that area sadly means that ultimately it will be just another millionaires shag-pad.
Nostalgia vs £££, the £££ usually wins.
Matt.

quote:

Originally posted by Simon Drake:

on the studios opening session Sir Edward Elgar conducted the LSO. Far too much history for it to be torn down.

When have they ever let history and heritage stand in the way of money?

I agree with you. It is a part of our musical heritage and should be protected.

quote:

Originally posted by Simon Drake:

quote:

Originally posted by graham55:
As I said, it will be bulldozed and gone within the year, unless someone who wants a studio buys it.

it won't be bulldozed. even if you stripped out the studio (the gear is worth a lot!) it would make a prime dwelling for a rich arabian prince or superstar. or flash apartments. because of the history its some of london's most prime real estate.

My thoughts exactly - it will be worth a fortune as residential property

You're living in a dream world, chaps. Unless it's bought as a studio, it'll be gone soon.

Ex Beatles and Pink Floyd members really need to step up.

But let's all agree to shoot Hands and his bunch of fuckwits who've managed to drag EMI so far down.

quote:

But let's all agree to shoot Hands and his bunch of fuckwits who've managed to drag EMI so far down.

Hands has done some great things at EMI.
He's slashed expense accounts and got rid of the drink and drugs showbiz top down expenditure of it's employees. EMI's biggest projects since his take over have been more musically worthy for people like us than other majors' (think Sony's X Factor homogeny and Universal's Lady GaGa). And EMI have retained market share despite the above bollocks.

What would you do if you took over EMI?
I'd maximise the potential of my back catalogue.
Think Guy has done a pretty good job of that. Fantastic job on the Beatles amongst others!!!

The f*ckwits who've under priced and under valued music in the information age and made decisions not to fight to help music hold its value are to blame for the decline in the music industry, now and at the time when Hands bailed out EMI with Citigroups help.

He's a business man afterall and I don't blame him for trying to fix it up. Nor decision to sell a highly valuable and lucrative part of his business (makes business sense)

Of all the majors (and I thoroughly dislike majors), I feel the most compasion for EMI and Hand's manifesto.

Interestingly, Olympic Studios (not as prolific as Abbey Road) kicked the bucket at Hands' hands almost immediately after the take over. It wasn't profit making at all and I'm pretty sure it was asset stripped and sold off. i.e. its not a studio anymore.

Simon, all I can say is that f*ckwit Hands has managed to run EMI into the ground, so I don't see much there to admire.

And, if you're having a go at Stefani Germanotta, you're completely off the pace. She has more going for her, from a standing start last year, than anyone else in popular music. Just imagine if Naim had signed her!

The National Trust are considering doing something to save Abbey Road studios.

They are inviting public comment. Please go to the following webpage to indicate your support:

http://www.nationaltrust.org.u...bey-road-studios.htm

Simon, dare I ask if you've actually listened to Stefani's first album?

You must have, as you diss it so forcefully! Or are you one of those clever people who can assess an album without actually hearing it?

quote:

Originally posted by Mike-B:
.... the building shell holds nothing in musical or recording terms.

But surely that means that no building should ever be preserved, whatever its function. Why should Fountains Abbey, Shakespeare's birthplace or Down House be preserved ? There's probably nothing original left in the Tower of London, it's been changed many times during the last 1000 years. It's our history and our heritage. And all these great buildings bring in visitors from around the world, pouring much needed revenue into the economy.

And all these great buildings bring in visitors from around the world, pouring much needed revenue into the economy.

Not enough for the governmet to have avoided hermouraging £4 Billion in January, apparently. The biggest problems faced by the UK need addressing before considering such a plan as preserving the Abbey Road studios.

The complex is not by any definition a great or significant building in any case.

What will it be presserved as? A sort of shrine to the failure of EMI to have a viable business plan. That really would be typical of Britain the national ostrich with its head firm stuck deep in the sand.

George