This time he even gets a paragraph

http://www.eurweb.com/art...112002.cfm

by Mark Riley

(Jul. 11, 2002) For those of you following the Michael Jackson sags with bated breath, don't sweat it. It's not hard to figure out how it will be resolved, but in order to do so you have to know what both sides in this battle really want. After that, Black folks might do well to examine the way the business works and decide for themselves whether artists are victims.

That's because no matter what else happens, the music business is extremely resistant to changing the way it does business. You can see this in the way it's responded to changes in technology, which is hardly at all until their profits were threatened. So we're all clear, the issue between Michael Jackson and Sony Music is about money and control. Michael, unlike most artists in situations like this, has the added benefit of a high powered activist (Rev. Al Sharpton) and a lawyer everyone in America fears (Johnnie Cochran) working out of his corner. Here's the beef. Michael wants to renegotiate his contract with the label. He wanted on the one hand to take possession of his catalog of masters four years ahead of schedule. This isn't trivial. Those masters are worth millions, which is why Sony wants to keep them for seven years, as the contract calls for. Then there's the little matter of his last LP, "Invincible." Michael Jackson says Sony didn't promote it properly. Sony says it spent more than $50 million on the album, which only sold 2 million copies in the US.

Trouble is, that $50 million is supposed to be paid by, guess who, Michael Jackson. Sony wants it's money back. Michael wants to know exactly how it was spent. Sony apparently isn't giving him the answers he seeks. That's why the battle got nasty, with Jackson calling Sony honcho Tommy Mottola a racist. It looks like both sides have dug in their heels for a protracted battle, right?

Don't bet on it. Sony and Michael will make a deal that will end his relationship with the label, and in return a deal will be struck on the masters and the other outstanding issue, their joint ownership of a very valuable publishing catalog. Each wants to buy the other out, making compromise the smartest way out.

Michael Jackson might well have looked to his contemporary Prince for pointers on how to fight this battle. Prince figured out years ago what Michael Jackson is only now finding out. You're little more than an indentured servant in the music business unless or until you control the means of production and your end product. Prince fought a long, lonely battle for that control, and won. That didn't change the playing field for any other musical artists. Don't expect Michael's travail to change things either.

Contact Mark at: mRiley@wlib.com
[This message was edited Thu Jul 11 7:10:42 PDT 2002 by SpcMs]

There are a few inaccuracies with this article.For one thing,Sony has denied repeatedly that Mike owes them money for the huge costs of 'Invincible'.Secondly,Mike does not want to "renegotiate" his Sony deal.His deal is up and he's free to leave.His contract calls for a Greatest Hits CD,which they can pretty much compile without his assistance.

But,as the writer said,the two sides will spend a few months slinging mud at each other and then simply work out a compromise that ends their assocaiation with each other.
[This message was edited Thu Jul 11 6:17:26 PDT 2002 by DavidEye]

that link doesnt work dude(ette)

*link edited*