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Re: A train of thought = a light in the distance
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Michael Jardeen
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Mar 21, 2001 06:47 PST
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After reading this I thought the group might find it interesting. I don't
have the source, but it is interesting in light of the Napster fiasco...
________________________________________________________________
ARTIST RIGHTS AND RECORD
COMPANIES
Dear Fellow Recording Artists,
I'm writing to ask you to join the chorus of recording artists
who want us all to get a fair deal from the record companies.
R.E.M., the Dixie Chicks, U2, Alanis Morrissette, Bush, Prince
and Q-Tip have called me with their support and we need
your participation as well.
There are 3 basic facts to all recording artists should know:
1. No one has ever represented the rights and interests of
recording artists AS A GROUP in negotiations with record
companies
2. Recording artists don't have access to quality health care
and pension plans like the ones made available to actors and
athletes through their unions.
3. Recording artists are paid royalties that represent a tiny
fraction of the money their work earns.
As I was working with my manager and my new attorneys on
my lawsuit with the Universal Music Group, we realized that
the most unfair clauses in my contract applied to ALL
recording artists. Most importantly, no one was representing
artists in an attempt to change the system.
Recording artists need to form a new organization that will
represent their interests in Washington and negotiate fair
contract terms with record companies.
Here's what you should know:
THERE IS NO ONE WHO REPRESENTS RECORDING
ARTISTS
Recording artists don't have a single union that looks out for
their interests. AFTRA (American Federation of Television and
Radio Artists) has a contract with major labels for vocalists
and the AFM (American Federation of Musicians) has a
contract for non-singing musicians and session players.
If you're in a band, your singer is represented by a different
union (AFTRA) than the rest of your group (who are
represented by the AFM). AFTRA negotiates contracts for TV
and Radio performers. They don't pay very much attention to
the recording business; it's not their priority. The AFM acts like
band members are sidemen and session players because
that's mostly who the union represents.
Record companies like this system because neither union
represents all artists. AFTRA and AFM only negotiate session
fees and other minor issues for the singers or the "sidemen."
Who looks after our interests in Washington? Until very
recently, Congress believed that the RIAA spoke for recording
artists. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America)
is a trade group that is paid for by record companies to
represent their interests. The Napster hearings last summer
and a few other issues have let Washington know that NO
ONE speaks for recording artists right now. We have their
attention and must act quickly to make sure artists have a
voice.
RECORDING ARTISTS DON'T HAVE A SAFTEY NET
Compare yourself to actors and baseball players. Like the
music business, the film and the sports industries generate
billions of dollars in income each year, but those industries
offer far better benefits to the men and women who create
their wealth.
The Screen Actors Guild offers a fantastic health care plan to
its members. That health plan is paid for by the contracts that
SAG has negotiated with film studios. The baseball player's
union has negotiated a pension plan that ensures that NO
major league player ever finds himself without an income.
Why shouldn't recording artists get the same benefits?
RECORDING ARTISTS DON'T GET PAID
Record companies have a 5% success rate. That means that
5% of all records released by major labels go gold or
platinum. How do record companies get away with a 95%
failure rate that would be totally unacceptable in any other
business?
Record companies keep almost all the profits. Recording
artists get paid a tiny fraction of the money earned by their
music. That allows record executives to be incredibly sloppy in
running their companies and still create enormous amounts
for cash for the corporations that own them.
The royalty rates granted in every recording contract are very
low to start with and then companies charge back every
conceivable cost to an artist's royalty account. Artists pay for
recording costs, video production costs, tour support, radio
promotion, sales and marketing costs, packaging costs and
any other cost the record company can subtract from their
royalties.
Record companies also reduce royalties by "forgetting" to
report sales figure, miscalculating royalties and by preventing
artists from auditing record company books.
Recording contracts are unfair and a single artist negotiating
an individual deal doesn't have the leverage to change the
system. Artists will finally get paid what they deserve when
they band together and force the recording industry to
negotiate with them AS A GROUP.
Thousands of successful artists who sold hundreds of millions
of records and generated billions of dollars in profits for record
companies find themselves broke and forgotten by the
industry they made wealthy.
Here a just a few examples of what we're talking about:
Multiplatinum artists like TLC ("Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg,"
"Waterfalls" and "No Scrubs") and Toni Braxton ("Unbreak My
Heart" and "Breathe Again") have been forced to declare
bankruptcy because their recording contracts didn't pay them
enough to survive.
Corrupt recording agreements forced the heirs of Jimi Hendrix
("Purple Haze," "All Along the Watchtower" and "Stone Free")
to work menial jobs while his catalog generated millions of
dollars each year for Universal Music.
Florence Ballard from the Supremes ("Where Did Our Love
Go," "Stop in the Name of Love" and "You Keep Me Hangin'
On" are just 3 of the 10 #1 hits she sang on) was on welfare
when she died.
Collective Soul earned almost no money from "Shine," one of
the biggest alternative rock hits of the 90s when Atlantic paid
almost all of their royalties to an outside production company.
Merle Haggard ("I Threw Away the Rose," "Sing Me Back
Home" and "Today I Started Loving You Again") enjoyed a
string of 37 top-ten country singles (including 23 #1 hits) in
the 60s and 70s. Yet he never received a record royalty
check until last year when he released an album on the indie
punk-rock label Epitaph.
Even Elvis Presley, the biggest-selling artist of all time, died
with an estate valued at not even $3 million.
Think of it this way: recording artists are often the writers,
directors and producers of their own records. They write the
songs, choose the producers and engineers who record their
music, hire and oversee the photographers and designers
who create their CD artwork and oversee all parts of video
production, from concept to director to final edit.
Record companies advance money for recording costs and
provide limited marketing services for the music that artists
conceive and create. In exchange, they keep almost all of the
money and 100% of the copyrights.
Even the most successful recording artists in history (The
Beatles, The Eagles, Nirvana, Eminem) have been paid a
fraction of the money they deserved from sales of their
records.
This is a very big and very important project and we're in the
early days. Here's what we're looking for:
1. Artists who are willing to speak to the media to publicly lend
their support to the idea that recording artists need an
organization that represents our interests in Washinton and
with the record companies. We also would like you tell your
managers and attorneys that you support this cause and that
you expect them, as your representatives and employees to
do the same.
2. Anyone who can tell us specific stories about how artists
have been ripped off by record companies like the ones I told
above. We're going to have to educate the public and the
media and Congress and the only way we'll do that is by
giving them examples they can relate to.
NOW is the time for action.
Artists like Garbage and N*SYNC have have joined me in
questioning bad contracts and have also gone to court to
change the system.
Record companies have merged and re-merged to the point
where they can no longer relate to their artists.
Digital distribution will change the music industry forever;
artists must make sure they finally get their fair share of the
money their music earns.
We need to come together quickly and present a united front
to the industry. Your managers and attorneys will probably tell
you not to rock the boat and not to risk your "relationship"
with your record company by taking a stand.
Most attorneys and managers are conflicted. Almost all
entertainment law firms represent both artists and record
companies. Lawyers can't take a stand against record
companies because that's where they get most of their
business. Even the best managers often have business
relationships with labels and depend on record companies to
refer new clients.
Think about Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam's stand against
TicketMaster. Everyone knew he was right and yet no other
artist took a public stand against a company that we all knew
was hurting our business because our managers and
attorneys told us it would be a bad idea.
Attorneys and managers are your employees. Make sure they
know how you feel and that you want them to publicly support
the idea that the terms of recording contracts are unfair and
cover too long a time period. You also want them to
supportan organization that will negotiate health and pension
benefits for all recording artists.
Artists have all the power. They create the music that makes
the money that funds the business. No one has ever
harnessed that power for artists' collective good.
And remember something equally important: Actors had to
fight to end the studio system that forced actors to work for
one employer and baseball players had to strike to end the
reserve clause that tied a player to one team for his entire
career. Even though "experts" predicted economic disaster
once actors and athletes gained their freedom, both the film
business and baseball have enjoyed their greatest financial
success once their talent was given its freedom.
Join us now in taking a public stand. Your name will help get
the attention that artists rights deserve. If you're willing to
speak to the media or testify before Congress, you can help
make our goals a reality.
Do it for yourself, for your children and do it for the artists who
inspired you to make music in the first place.
Email us at:
Arti-@theredceiling.com
Or send a fax to 323-934-2265
Give us your stories and your support. Tell us we can add
your name to the list of artists who support this organization.
And let us know how to contact you directly as we move
forward on this project.
If you're interested in learning more about my case with
Universal, visit my manager's website:
www.theredceiling.com
You can download a copy of our cross-complaint and press
releases that describe the issues we're taking to court.
Thanks in advance for your support.
Best regards,
Courtney Love
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