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opinion:
our view
Artists' fight
valid
Recording artists
are preparing to take on the music industry over what they deem
to be unfair practices they feel unfairly exploit their work
for the companies' profit.
Hole singer/guitar-player
Courtney Love started the battle and was soon joined by artists
representing every musical genre. The unionizing-type battle
is akin to previous fights by actors and the free agency battle
by professional baseball players.
The fight covers
three areas: restrictive contracts, health care and hidden
profits.
In the current
system, artists are signed to exclusive contracts that give
the recording companies copyright control and almost total
control of the artists' creative output.
The recording companies
justify their policies by saying since only a few of every
hundred artists they sign will be successful, they need the
money from the profitable to subsidize the unprofitable. A
system that punishes success can be rationalized.
In a "Behind
the Music" program on VH1, the group TLC told how they
were left bankrupt by their record company, which forced them
to pay for their time in the recording studio and for the
promotion of their albums.
Their story and
others like it belie the argument that record companies face
prohibitive costs in developing new artists. When artists
pay for their own promotion and then lose the rights to the
profits, the system is inherently unfair.
Recording artists
are also battling for health care protection, which is almost
a given in every other industry. Given the stereotypical rock
'n' roll lifestyle, it is understandable why record companies
would not want to face the potential costs. The Rolling Stones
Keith Richards' three blood transfusions alone could have
put a serious dent in profits.
Still, there is
no reason artists should not have access to health care simply
because they do not work 40 hours a week behind a desk.
Love is also challenging
the record companies' practices of giving artists limited
royalties from records sold overseas and in record clubs.
American pop culture is a global phenomenon and companies
make overseas profits based primarily on the artists' names
and past successes.
Companies have
no justification in keeping money from artists that their
talents rightfully earned.
The list of recording
artists that died penniless is as notable as it is depressing.
Jackie Wilson, Mary Wells, Florence Ballard, Jimmy Reed and
Howlin' Wolf all faced destitution during their lifetimes.
Labor battles often
benefit those that come after more than those in the present.
This battle would help future artists. This fight should be
fought diligently to the end.
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