Moby, Mann React to Old Labels’ New Plans

Interscope Records and Elektra Records let Aimee Mann and Moby, respectively, get away.

But now that each has had success elsewhere, the old labels are trying to get a piece of the pie by putting together albums of material the acts recorded for them.

Moby’s thrilled. Mann? Not so much.

Elektra, piggybacking on the phenomenal success of Moby’s “Play,” which has passed the million-sales mark for small V2 Records in the U.S., has just issued “Songs,” a compilation of cuts from his Elektra days. He recorded three albums for the label starting in 1993.

And Hipp-O Records, a catalog wing of Interscope’s parent company, Universal, has put a collection of Mann’s songs on its upcoming schedule. It comes in the wake of tremendous attention Mann got for the “Magnolia” movie soundtrack (with sales of about 300,000 for Warner Bros. Records after Interscope passed on it)--not to mention Mann’s best-song Academy Award nomination and her stature as an independent-music poster child for the self-release of her own “Bachelor No. 2” album.

Moby, concerned that his old albums weren’t readily available to his new fans, was flattered by Elektra’s move and even stepped in to put together the song list for his compilation.

Mann, on the other hand, is telling Hipp-O no dice.

“I’ve told them numerous times that we don’t want them to do it,” says Mann’s manager, Michael Hausman. “They don’t think they need our permission, but they do. Most contracts are written so that they don’t need artist approval [for compilations]. But in our case they do.”

Hausman says that the only contact he’s had from Hipp-O has been documents requesting clearance to license old songs.

“They never came to us and said, ‘We’re thinking of doing this and would you like to be part of it?’ ” Hausman says.

If that had been the case, Mann--whose albums “Whatever” and “I’m With Stupid” were inherited by Interscope in the 1998 Universal Music merger--might have been receptive.

“But now that we have our own record company, we want to do something ourselves,” Hausman adds, referring to the SuperEgo Records label he and Mann established to release “Bachelor,” which, with nearly 100,000 copies sold, has made a them a profit--something that would not have happened at a major with far greater sales.

He’s also unhappy with the selections Hipp-O has been making for its collection, supplementing tracks from “Whatever” and “I’m With Stupid” with B-sides and some rare tracks from her ‘80s days leading the band ‘Til Tuesday that Hipp-O is licensing from Epic Records.

“They want to license all kinds of crazy stuff,” says Hausman. “They have a track Aimee sang with ‘Til Tuesday for the soundtrack to the movie ‘Back to the Beach.’ Anything they found it seems they’re interested in. I wouldn’t want to include any ‘Til Tuesday songs. That’s been done [on a previous Epic compilation of the band’s work]. And I can’t imagine a best-of without something from ‘Magnolia,’ which would be on one we did ourselves.”

Representatives of Hipp-O did not respond to requests for comment.

Moby’s case is one in which everyone seems to be happy.

“We’re very grateful to Elektra allowing us to give the input on this,” says Marcy Webber, Moby’s manager, who notes that the artist’s exit from Elektra was at his request and left no hard feelings. “It pays to keep the bridges up--you never know when you have to go back. It’s a happy story, and these things usually aren’t.”

THE REAL WORLD: Pop musicians are often happy to have the comforts of home after months on the road. But for Bush singer Gavin Rossdale, there was extra appreciation when he returned to his London home last week. After playing a round of European festival dates in recent months and then finishing the band’s tour in South Africa, Rossdale capped all that off with a week in Tanzania to witness the ravages of poverty, famine and AIDS.

The rocker took the trip on behalf of Jubilee 2000, the organization seeking forgiveness of massive Third World debts to Western countries so the poorer nations can get their economies on solid ground. The journey will be chronicled in a fall issue of the British magazine Marie Claire.

“Looking outside my window looks pretty good,” said Rossdale, calling from London. “Things in [England] are not so good on a political level, with national health and welfare and many other problems. But nothing prepares you for the situation in Africa.”

Now Rossdale is coming for a stay in Los Angeles (home of his longtime girlfriend, No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani), where he plans to write and record demos of songs for Bush’s fourth album. Tentative plans are to start recording in England in October, with a release possible in early 2001. But while he’s planning to continue Jubilee activity with such efforts as writing to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other leaders on a regular basis, he’s not sure how or if the Tanzania experience will be reflected in his new songs.

“Everything has an impact on my writing, and that was definitely one of the most extreme situations I’ve put myself in,” he said. “I don’t want to make it that contrived--the stuff I’ve sung about and written about seems to just be about enjoying being alive.”