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 Billed
as the Internet's first real success story, Fisher rose
out of obscurity in Southern California at the height of
the dotcom explosion to become, according to myriad reports,
the most downloaded band on the net. Bolstered by more than
two million downloads and a single, "I Will Love You," that
got picked up for regular airplay on a San Diego radio station,
Fisher was signed to FarmClub.com.The
band - actually a duo that consists of singer/lyricist Kathy
Fisher and keyboard player/songwriter Ron Wasserman - seemed
slated for stardom.
So what
happened to Fisher?
The answer
lies somewhere between "nothing" and "everything." Perhaps
more than any other band, Fisher's career has mirrored the
tumultuous fortunes of other Internet-driven entities, with
one notable exception: the band has not only survived, it's
prospered.
However,
the group's journey hasn't been an easy one. After signing
with Farmclub.com and becoming the poster child for the
potential of the Internet, the band found itself relegated
to a much lower status when Farmclub fell victim to the
dotcom implosion and the group's contract was subsumed within
parent company Interscope/Universal. As a result, instead
of being Farmclub's flagship act, Fisher became just another
emerging act signed to a major label. The band's frustration
only grew as "I Will Love You" hit the number one position
in several major radio markets, yet fans were unable to
buy the album, True North, at retail.
Despite
its frustration, however, the band didn't give up - in fact,
it redoubled its own efforts to reach commercial success.
For example, Fisher recorded several commercial spots, including
the "L-O-V-E" song for Chrysler's PT Cruiser commercial
(and unfortunately, hasn't yet been able to get the rights
from the ad agency to record a full-length version of the
song). The duo also teamed up with arranger/producer Mark
Governor to create December, a six-song collection of Christmas
music that was available exclusively online. In addition,
several months ago Fisher left Interscope - reportedly under
very favorable terms - and is now hard at working finishing
up its next CD and looking for a new label.
StarPolish
editorial director James K. Willcox caught up with Kathy
Fisher - and briefly, Ron Wasserman -- to discuss Fisher's
fortunes, life as an Internet darling, and why so many people
think Fisher is only Kathy Fisher.
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STARPOLISH:
Hi, Kathy. I don’t know if you remember, but we met briefly when
I was at [Internet music company] Riffage.com. Do you remember Riffage?
FISHER:
(Laughing) No, I only use the Internet for email and shopping.
STARPOLISH:
That’s pretty funny, given that [Fisher] is billed as the Internet’s
first real success story.
FISHER:
Well, I furnished my house on the Internet -- I am a true user
of it. But I’ve never used Napster, I’ve never downloaded anything
for free that wasn’t approved, you know, so I’m not like that
in that way. But you know, if there’s a CD I can’t find, I always
go to Amazon.com, and I get it right away. So yeah, I am a pioneer
in that regard, but I’m not a tech head and I don’t know every
site. What was Riffage?
STARPOLISH: It was a site
like MP3.com, created to help expose music by independent artists
to a wider audience. After MP3.com, it was probably the biggest.
We successfully raised two substantial rounds of financing, and
then were unable to raise the third after the market changed so
dramatically. I was the second person hired, and it was a real
roller coaster ride.
FISHER:
That’s interesting… basically, MP3.com is now completely controlled
by Universal and it’s all known acts. The whole Internet thing
was undertaken by [Fisher’s other member] Ron [Wasserman], my
partner, who you met -- that’s his brainchild. And one of the
things he would warn people about was the limited amount of time
to do it. Because he’d tell people what we were doing, and they
were like, “Oh I don’t know…” And he’d say, “Go get a computer
and do it now, because there’s a small window of opportunity.”
STARPOLISH: So he was able
to see that the door might be shut for indie acts before too long?
FISHER:Yeah,
basically, he predicted that -- and I saw what he meant, because
I could see the artists trickling in on MP3.com: the David Bowies,
and the Madonna tracks here and there
STARPOLISH: And Alanis
Morissette…
FISHER:
Yes, it was all trickling in, and it was all very obvious that
soon [the labels] would go, “Hey! This is a cool way to advertise
for very little.” And I guess Universal bought it out to control
it.
STARPOLISH: Or they wanted
the whole backend part of a system that’s already been established
so they could use that to sell music by popular artists for a
fee. But yeah, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of independent-oriented
websites left any more. Napster, for example…
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"You would think that two million downloads would equal shipping
gold, but we didn’t. We still had to go through the same career-building
process as any other band." |
FISHER:
I was always against Napster because I felt that it really fostered
the idea that music should always be free. I thought that it would
raise a generation of music listeners who would not feel the need
to pay for it, and I really think that’s come true.
STARPOLISH: Ron, obviously,
felt differently. Well, I think we’ll find that out in the next
year as all these services launch fee-based subscription services.
I guess we’ll see how many of these people who were willing to
grab stuff for free will now be willing to pay money.
FISHER:
They won’t … I think we’ve already seen that a lot of them have
gone away, kind of like, “Ah! Where’d the free shit go? I’ll find
something new… I’ll hack into something or I’ll go turn the TV
on…”
STARPOLISH: As far as Fisher
is concerned, the number that was thrown out was that you had
more than two million downloads.
FISHER:
Yes, but you know what? That helped us in terms of our brick-and-mortar
career, in that every city we went to when we toured, we had a
fan base there because of our Internet exposure, and being active
with the fans through email and all that – but we didn’t ship
gold. You would think that two million downloads would equal shipping
gold, but we didn’t. We still had to go through the same career-building
process as any other band. The only thing is, most baby bands
sell like ten thousand their first year, and we way over topped
that. So that was good.
STARPOLISH: Do you guys
talk about what you ended up doing in terms of units?
FISHER:
I don’t like to, because if you compare it to Eminem, we look
like failures. If you compare it to most new artists and the lack
of promotion we had with this record, it’s phenomenal. So I don’t
want to give units, but I will say that it was far superior than
most new artists do, and so in that regard I think a lot of that
is attributed to the Internet exposure.
STARPOLISH: So, do you
think that was what got you signed?
FISHER:
Yes. I think that because the Internet was such a bust for so
many people in so many ways. I don’t think it’s going to be such
a door opener for bands now; it will be a window opener. It will
always be a part of marketing in your career and fan outreach,
but in terms off blowing the socks off a label with your Internet
stats, they don’t care anymore. My A&R guy says, “I have people
calling me everyday saying, ‘Well, we have so many downloads …
and he’s like, “That’s nice -- how many records did you sell?”
STARPOLISH: So that’s what
they are still looking at?
FISHER:
Yes, it always comes down to brick-and-mortar -- along with our
Internet stuff. When we were hot and being downloaded, we sold
about 6,000 copies of our indie record without touring without
much promotion. So we figured, “Well, what could we do if we actually
put something into it?”
STARPOLISH: So is there
a level of disappointment in terms of translating two million
downloads into actual record sales?
FISHER:
Yes, because we were the guinea pigs and we had our “I Will Love
You” hit on the radio in San Diego early, and it incited the record
label to get the record out early. And that was really a gamble
because it was fourth quarter, there was no lead in time, and
they were relying on the downloads to translate into sales. So
it was Christmas time and you would walk into the stores and all
the hot placement spots for promotion were already sold six months
prior
STARPOLISH: And for a lot
of money…
FISHER:Yes,
for a lot of money, to the Mariah Careys and all those [types].
And there was a little Fisher record in the back storage room
that no one even knew to put out. Basically, the label was like,
“Well, we know we haven’t had the proper time to gear up, but
it’s so hot on the Internet…” I think they felt that it was going
to compensate.
STARPOLISH: I always thought
it was sort of ironic that you were billed as the first Internet
success story, when the reality was that it was radio that really
broke you. It was also strange – and fortuitous – that they ended
up playing a ballad on drive time radio. How did that come about?
FISHER:
See, that was odd…
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