THE STREETS - SKINNER SLAMS 'OLD-FASHIONED' RECORD LABELS

THE STREETS frontman MIKE SKINNER closed his record label because he deemed the system old-fashioned. The star co-owned The Beats label with hip-hop vocalist Ted Mayhem but the pair decided to close the company in December 2007 after they lost funding from the Warner Music Group. Skinner even claimed to have held a funeral for the label, which had been home to acts including The Mitchell Brothers, Example and Professor Green. But he insists they made the right decision. He says, "It just comes down to the fact that the traditional record label is dead. The Beats represents me growing up. Spectating was more nerve-wracking than performing. "What I'm doing now is looking for the thing you can create that embraces the next generation. I'm really into what you can do online and I'd rather be at the centre of it."