{{{http://www.eurweb.com/articles/musicpages/10252002/musicpages851710252002.cfm

“WE NEED MORE INTEGRITY IN OUR ART”
L. Londell McMillan on what must change in the recording industry.

*Remember the nineties when it seemed that Prince had
straight flipped? Remember he said he wanted to be called
'The Artist' formerly Known As Prince and he appeared on
a televised awards show with “Slave” written on his face?
Did you know that New York entertainment lawyer,
L. Londell McMillan, was the one who, in 1995, got Prince
out of the oppressive recording contract that had the artist
so bugged?
McMillan has done similar work for other artists.
He negotiated The Lox out of their contract with Bad Boy.
He got Ja Rule out of a former contract so that the rapper
could sign with Def Jam. He helped Russell Simmons when
Polygram threatened to take his company. McMillan currently
represents Faith Evans who is rumored to “want out” of her
Bad Boy deal.}}}
McMillan has done impressive negotiating on behalf
of recording artists and his client list is top shelf. His clients
include Stevie Wonder, DMX, Chaka Khan, D’Angelo, the
Estate of Sammy Davis, Jr. and the Estate of Notorious B.I.G.
However, McMillan’s latest efforts are more activist oriented.
He is general counsel for Artists Empowerment Coalition, an
organization to empower recording artists through partnerships
with groups like the NAACP.
Why is this successful entertainment lawyer now involved
in a socio-economic movement?
“People are rebelling against how they feel their music
is being controlled, particularly urban music,” McMillan says.
“We need to reinvest in the creativity of the music.”
And, says McMillan, with music distribution moving
towards the Internet, now is the perfect time to demand
more equitable relationships between artists and the
industry.
“Now is the appropriate time to have a meaningful change
in the quality of music as well as the quality of business,”
he says.
It’s easy to understand what’s wrong on the business
side. According to McMillan, the standard industry contract
binds an artist to a label for 6 to 7 albums which translates
into anywhere from 14 to 25 years.
“That’s a form of long term servitude,” McMillan says.
In addition, many recording artists don’t have a pension
or health care benefits and they don’t own the master
recordings to their songs.
But what is the lawyer talking about when he says
we need a change in the quality of music?
“When you look at how black music is run today, you
would think that its almost all hip-hop or hip-hop/R&B. But
when you look at other cultures’ music and how they’re
promoted, it’s promoted in a substantially different manner.”
“We want to increase the diversity and broaden the scope
[of urban music],” he says. He mentioned how the music he
heard as a child was more varied.
Speaking of diversity, the AEC will showcase the range
of black music at a concert next Monday, October 28.
Performers include gospel artist Hezekiah Walker,
rappers DMX and Scarface, Stevie Wonder, Faith
Evans and others. The concert will be co- hosted
by Free of “106 & Park” and rap legend Doug E. Fresh.
Although McMillan wants to change current industry
practices, he’s not posing as an outsider. He’s fighting
from the inside and as an insider he has some of the same
interests as the record labels. For example, McMillan may
be against downloading music. He says the AEC will “work
with the record industry to address issues of piracy,” and,
according to Internet reports, McMillan’s law firm is responsible
for those threatening “cease and desist” letters that were mailed
to people who downloaded Prince’s music from the web.
But remember he is not a consumer advocate but an
artist’s advocate. McMillan believes that if artists are respected
by the labels that their product will be better and the consumers
will benefit in the end.
“We see this as encouraging a sick business that’s
in need of ... a healthy system to incite creativity,” he
says. “We need more integrity in our art.”
-- by Renee Simms

Editor's Note: EUR will have more info about the
AEC's initiatives in the coming weeks.

Majors sucks. Everyday 80 pieces of shit r heard repetivly on radios when 80,000 musician deseperatly tries 2 make a living of their art. American artists begin 2 rebel, good. But the shit is the same worldwide, & who complains ? Eye'm french, eye'm a musician, & it seems here all the artists r as happy with the majors as r the shit-makers. It's time some1 SPEAKS !!!

Make that 6 to 7 years for an artist like Prince, who then voluntary signs his name under yet again a new contract, again obliging him to do 6 to 7 albums for only 100 million $ and then starts to complain.

But it is bad for many artists (except of the status of Prince)... sometimes it is better for them to just let their new record flop, so they can be released of their contract. They will have to start from scratch again.

But ultimately it is also the artist's wish to increasingly sell all their rights and voluntary enslave themselves for more than 10 years, and in exchange for what? ONLY (potential) dollars and fame. Artists who hate it need to have more self-respect first and learn to say no, like Ani di Franco did. Judging the situation completely one-sidedly is something Prince and Londell can't seem to let go of and I think is a shame, because face it: Many artists sell themselves voluntarily like prostitutes.



Again he is one-sided. I would suggest to remember rule #1 first. That is if the consumers are respected by record companies AND by artists their "product" will sell better and therefore they will benefit. The artists will too, if they do not sign the same slave contracts Prince did. Like Prince says all the time. Filesharing is just another way for musiclovers to show their grudge with the system. Not that Prince gains repsect from his fans with Londell's letters, but anyway... contradiction is Prince's protection... besides his copyright.

yeah... but Londell knows that COPYRIGHT is the American way of inciting creativity.

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[This message was edited Tue Oct 29 8:35:18 PST 2002 by Abrazo]

ABRAZO SAID : Again he is one-sided. I would suggest to remember rule #1 first. That is if the consumers are respected by record companies AND by artists their "product" will sell better and therefore they will benefit.

The problem, still, is dat consumers don't CHOOSE which artists they will listen at & from whom they will buy albums. Apart from a few real music lovers who really like 2 discover unknown or little known artists, most people have only access 2 the crap the radio & TV stations feeds'em with in accord with the majors. & fact is dis crap has NOTHING 2 do with art, it's just songs of the same kind over & over again composed in the only purpose of being hits !

"How do the people know what they like if they never know what they need ?"...
[This message was edited Tue Oct 29 8:58:45 PST 2002 by madcapxtc]

Good Luck Mr. McMillian. The music industry has too long thought intergrity was a bad thing. To have it and be in this industry meant you were crazy. I hope you all get the rights of artist that should have had them in the first place. But this is a long time coming! Big Momma Thornton died sick and on food stamps. And a long list of recording artist that have been taken advantage of in a billion dollar industry. Many R & B acts from the 60's that don't own the rights to music they wrote. Because it was policy not to protect the rights of Black artist then.Remember there were performers that marched with Martin Luther.

here's the link, folks:

http://www.eurweb.com/art...252002.cfm

[did a quick copy and paste of some text into Google, with quotes]

Cindy

Everyone refused to mark Prince's word when he was setting out on the path that he has since cleared for himself. He may not be selling millions of records, and making "mad dollas", but in my mind, it stopped being about that years ago. In my own career path as a writer, I have never considered how much I make, and I reiterate this fact: that's not the reason why any true artist does what they do. To impose a contract for 14-25 years and to only get the chance to release six or seven albums worth of material is stifling in its very essence. If any artist wants to release one album a year, or even three or four, and sacrifice sales to pave the way for production, then that is his right, and again, as a true artist, I would say that they are acting completely within their power. If it wasn't for artists, record companies wouldn't exist. Period. Sorry, rec. exec.'s - you lose.

"According to McMillan, the standard industry contract
binds an artist to a label for 6 to 7 albums which translates into anywhere from 14 to 25 years."

But why? If Prince could do albums for Warners every year, what's stopping the rest of these clowns who don't even WRITE SONGS?!

You can't demand integrity in art when the art isn't the focus. A singer is a singer is a singer. A record deal doesn't make you an ARTIST, your ART does. So if you're SIGNING to a record company you are ASKING to do business on THEIR TERMS.

Londell has done a LOT for artists, but I don't agree with this as a point. Artists have to take responsibility for themselves and stay as independent as possible.

So WHAT if everyone in the world doesn't hear your songs. so WHAT?

Producer Tetsuya Komuro has done more in Japan without ever recording anything in English...and has more to SHOW FOR IT...than most artists who are international household names. He's a United Nations Ambassador, has built studios, and helped define the new pop sound of a nation. Rodney Jerkins has also built his own studio to work in. Jam & Lewis, Face...the list goes on. There comes a point where an artist has to see his or herself as a BUSINESS person. Successful business owners have ASSETS. Things that bring them INCOME.

I don't think any artist about to sign a deal in this day and age should be expecting ANYTHING from a major label except what they say they will do...manufacture and distribute your work.

madcapxtc said:

Musiclovers are consumers just the same. I don't buy all that commercial crap from MTV. I decide to SUPPORT Npgmc because he was supposed to be "free". Yeah free like a monopolist who charges the musiclover/consumer who has no right whatsoever and makes promises, but only may keep them when he feels like it.