{{{Another article about artists rights and on Prince being at the forefront of this movement.
http://www.nydailynews.co...154539.asp

When Prince scrawled "Slave" on his cheek, changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and declared himself through with the record business, many figured the diminutive singer had squeezed his raspberry beret on too tight.

But seven years later, it seems Prince was at the vanguard of a mushrooming artists' rights movement that has come to include some of pop's biggest names — including Elton John, Alanis Morissette, the Dixie Chicks, Madonna, Courtney Love and Bruce Springsteen.}}}

Through individual and group actions, these performers are demanding better treatment from record labels — many of which are already crippled by falling sales, rampant downsizing and Internet piracy.

In recent weeks, several long-simmering lawsuits and legislative reforms seeking to change the way major labels handle artists' contracts have come to a boil. Love's lawsuit seeking freedom from Universal Music Group reaches court tomorrow in Los Angeles. Next month, Michael Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Johnnie Cochran plan to hold a "summit," where they will try to make what they perceive as unfair record deals "a legitimate civil rights issue."

The biggest player in this movement is the Recording Artists Coalition (RAC), led by Don Henley, which wants to shorten the length of deals and require labels to offer artists health benefits. Dozens of big names have joined the RAC's fight on behalf of all musicians to strike down a California law written in favor of music companies.

Some say these are simply the actions of spoiled stars grasping for a bigger share of profits. But their efforts have spooked beleaguered labels, which have seen sales drop 12% this year and face billion-dollar costs in an unfruitful fight against Internet piracy.

'Bless the Internet'

"The industry is changing," says Mark Pollack, editor of Hitsdailydouble.com, which covers the music business. "Artists and managers are becoming more powerful. They control the content. They can cut out the middleman."

Like Prince, many artists recognize that the Internet gives them direct access to fans. "This new technology is threatening the bottleneck monopoly of record companies," says RAC member Alanis Morissette. "I just bless the Internet for coming onto the scene and shining all this light on analog-era recording contracts. It's started this dialogue about a very staid old way of doing business that needed a shaking up."

At the heart of the RAC's complaint is a "carve-out" in a California law that otherwise limits employment contracts to seven years. The seven-year law was passed in part to end the onerous lifetime contracts that movie studios once held over many actors.

In the past, recording artists unhappy with their deals simply refused to deliver new albums until the contract ran out. So music companies got California to create a loophole that allowed them to sue performers for undelivered albums.

Most contracts call for seven albums in as many years, but few artists can actually live up to the deal, especially when they spend time on tour and promoting their records.

"The reality is that the business has changed so radically that you can't deliver the number of albums that the contract calls for in seven years," says Don Passman, an entertainment lawyer who wrote "All You Need to Know About the Music Business."

"You can't really do even six albums if you have any kind of success."

For those who wonder why any entertainer would agree to such conditions, the answer is simple: Without the contract, an artist would never gain access to the star-making power of a major label.

The RAC is close to a deal with the five corporate conglomerates that control most of the music business: Sony, AOL Time Warner, Universal Vivendi, EMI and Bertelsmann (BMG).

Meanwhile, the labels' trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), started a letter-writing campaign to halt any change in the law.

"Recording artists are among the richest people in the world," says RIAA president Hillary Rosen. "I don't think disputes over money are particularly important. This is just rich people fighting over money."

Some Artists Succeeding

But money fights can have significant consequences. Calling herself "the music industry's worst nightmare," Courtney Love made her court battle with Universal a legal referendum on the seven-year carve-out, which she claimed was unconstitutional.

Many in the business believed Love's suit might become a landmark case, but last month a Los Angeles judge dismissed her claim, although he allowed four other charges to stand. More successful have been less expansive lawsuits, such as those filed separately by Meat Loaf and the Dixie Chicks against Sony Music. Meat Loaf ultimately won $10 million and the Chicks — who accused Sony of "systematic thievery" in its accounting practices — are said to be close to a settlement.

Sharpton a Question Mark

Most of this battle has been waged on the West Coast, where the RAC has secured the support of California State Sen. Kevin Murray and further tweaked the business by staging a string of popular benefit concerts during Grammy week. It remains to be seen if the New York-based team of Jackson, Sharpton and Cochran will have any real effect.

Pointing to artists such as James Brown and Mary Wells, who despite their hit records endured financial hardships, Cochran and Sharpton say the record business must be reformed. But they have yet to reveal which other artists will join their cause. Nor have they made any effort to collaborate with the RAC, with whom they share several goals.

Although Sharpton and Cochran may be able to call on radio stations that joined Sharpton's 1999 "Madison Avenue Initiative," few see the pair as anything more than Jackson's noisy mouthpieces. In fact, they may damage RAC efforts if their cause is ultimately seen as frivolous.

"They don't know [anything] about the music industry," says Pollack. "It could hurt a legitimate discussion. I don't know if Michael Jackson is the great poster child for corporate exploitation."

It looks like Prince gets the last laugh on this one!

yeah, everyone thought he was crazy
MS

I love it. Prince still reigns supreme. Now they're getting the whole symbol thing,,,

raven said:

Updated URL:

http://www.nydailynews.co...ast6days=1

Seven Years Later...
Talk About Being Ahead of The Game

I'm glad they're finally mentioning Prince and the major role he has played in this. I've read too many stories like this without a single mention of Prince, and he's the pioneer of the whole thing.

This makes me smile.

ONCE AGAIN I DONT FOLLOW TRENDS ,THEY JUST FOLLOW ME,
JUST LIKE THE ISREALITES THROUGH THE RED SEA.
IT MIGHT TAKE SOME TIME B4 U'LL WANT TO C
THE UNDISPUTED TRUTH
AND GET
FREE!

People why has it taken 8 years for the masses to see this.

Flashback 1992
Prince Roger Nelson signs one of the largest contracts in the history of pop music & is made a vice-president of Warner Bros.
The contract is full of hidden clauses including a 7 record deal that states Prince must sell 1 million albums just to break even,

Expecting Warner Bros to market the Hell out of Prince,right?
WRONG !

They do the total opposite including banishing Prince to r&b status which includes a different marketing plan.

The next 3 Prince albums,SYMBOL,GREATEST HITS & COME all sell o.k. but the larger barometer is the failure of the chosen singles from those albums. Of the 9. singles released during this time only 7 & SEXY M.F. were hits ?

Prince ,against WB's permission ,releases The Most Beautiful GIRL in the World through an independent label (Bellmark) & it is a smash hit.

Pissed off at the fact that they F'ed up,they hold off the release of GOLD until 1995 & release the BLACK album .

When GOLD is released in 1995 an album with at least 4 hit songs is reduced to an afterthought .The GOLD album was given little promotion.Prince at this time gives up !

Prince is 33% responsible for these problems but given proper promotion the man should have had at least 2 or 3 major hit songs during 1993-1999.