OFF: Branson and V2

[Keith A Henderson]

Hi everyone...

I just saw that Richard Branson, Father of the Virgin Corporation and balloon
aficionado, is starting up a new record company called V2.  He says it's
because he regrets selling out Virgin Records to EMI four years back, and he
misses the music business.  The question is:  is this label going to be
interested in signing anybody interesting from our 'neck of the woods', in the
way Virgin originally began with Mike Oldfield and Steve Hillage?? Or are we
still going to be the only ones out searching for obscure stuff on indy labels
like Delerium, etc., while 99% of the music-buying public remains completely
unaware of the entire genre of space rock and similar prog-types, with the
lone exception of Pink Floyd?  My guess is that nothing will change and to be
competitive, V2 will be out there vying for the same miserable garbage that
gets force-fed into teenager's throats.  Oh, well, as long as we can keep the
worthwhile bands going, no matter how resource-poor they may be, at least the
music will continue to spew forth for us to ingest...  :)

Keith H. (FAA)