I agree with Courtney Love and how artists aren't getting what they deserve. This could have a lot of relevance to Morrissey of why he doesn't have a label...obviously, we all know, from The Smiths at least, that he wanted things just so...i.e. he didn't want to get pushed around by the record industry, and because of these issues...I hope this gets sorted out, in artist's favor...however, I do see the counter point: all of the artists that she mentioned, who went bankrupt, how is that so if they were getting all of this money that we believe they have? The big mansions, fancy cars, and such? Do they spend too extravagantly, thus going bankrupt? Or do some of these artists waste their money on drugs? How do some of these artists who have 23 number 1 hits all of a sudden end up on welfare and such? hmmm...please excuse my babbling :)

This fits quite nicely in with the Napster/free music debate.

I'm broadly in favour of the free distribution of music. The moral dimension of the intellectual property ownership argument is finely balanced: if you own a CD have you necessarily purchased the right to let other people listen to the music it contains or have you merely purchased a license to listen to it yourself. But in any event, this is an entirely academic question. It is pretty clear now that, the demise of Napster aside, mechanically assisted music sharing is an inevitability.

The interesting question is what the effect of music sharing will have on the traditional music industry. I think that the effect will be that music companies will find that promoting (and creating) the really popular pop artists will bring diminishing returns. The more popular an artist gets, the easier it is to find their music on the internet, the more the record companies earnings will level off. However, the more obscure a musician is, the less easy it is to find all their music. Therefore, a small amount of publicity will lead to proportionally higher sales.

If I'm right about this, my guess is that the effect of music sharing will be to lead to
(a) less prominence for heavily promoted bands as record companies decide that expensive promotion is counterproductive;
(b) a proliferation of smaller bands, some of which will be record company backed and others which will be DIY
(c) hopefully, a diversification of musical taste.

This is overstating the case, of course. But my guess is that broadly speaking, this is what will happen to the music industry in the next few years.

My hope is that this will also lead to the sorts of improvements in conditions for recording artists. The strategy of record companies appears to be to invest vast amounts of money into building up or creating popstars with a limited shelf life. They will gamble on small bands becoming big: but by and large, they're not interested in bands which have a steady fan base. If these bands don't make it big in a couple of years, they get chucked.
If the market does change the way I'm guessing, the effect may well be to force record companies into treating bands more like employees. If you're not chasing the big hits any more - because that's not where the money is - but instead, you need to keep a number of small bands on your label, making respectable sales for years, to make profits, record companies might start to realise the importance of fostering loyalty and long term relationships with their smaller artists.

Just a thought

I agree with Courtney on this one, there is no reason these bands shouldn't get the same benefits as say, a baseball player, and actors. But did she have to bring up the fact that Jimi Hendrix was the one who wrote, "All Along the Watchtower"? Dude, I thought that was Bob Marley! Or that TLC busted out with "Waterfalls"? Wrong again. Courtney, I respect the stand you are taking, but please don't hurt this cause by looking stupid.

Dear Jim,

Nirvana made the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

Sincerly,

Roy Firestone
ESPN Sports

This piece was actually written by Steve Albini FOR Courtney Love. This is, of course, common practice when it comes to her music as well.

I think we should just eliminate anything that has to do with Courtney Love on this site altogether... she's vile, immoral and not to be trusted.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but most people initially get into music knowing full well that the only certainty is their menu: Kraft Mac. & Cheese every day. People like Toni Braxton should have planned their finances a bit better: Not able to survive? There's a certain amount of financial/business savy that must be adopted by musicians if they don't want to get trampled by the Labels. Perhaps "a propos" is Dee Snider: He created Twisted Sister, wrote the songs, negotiated the contracts, etc.. Trust me, his investment portfolio is probably quite healthy right now (OK, maybe not after the last few months, but hey). The majority of musicians see the business aspect as an impediment to their creativity and not a necessary evil that must be mastered.

In my very humble opinion, artists need education and not unions. Would artists go on strike and not record any music? Then what...the home studio jockeys (such as myself) would be busy selling MP3s. And now for a free consultation: 1) Virtually everything is negotiable. My favorite expression is "You don't earn what you deserve, you earn what you negotiate"
2) With proper tax planning, artists pay almost no tax via the use of various tax shelter, off-shore accounts, tax treaties.
3) If you're absolutely against acquiring any business knowledge, get a professional and pay the rate. Don't expect that because accountants, lawyers, managers are such "linear" thinkers, that they don't understand the creative challenges you face..............Some of them might even be recording artists

Hurray! Finally America is re-awakening to the power of the artist as a collective.

Hollywood was the same in the 20's and 30's. Star names signed to studios who made nega bucks from their abilities, then Charlie Chaplin et al formed United Artists and now the movie world is different, although who can say whether it's better.

I agree with Love on this issue, however why isn't she, Stipe and/or Morrissey taking a lead here?

All are millionaries and could, if their wanted, start their own label promoting bands they thought were worthwhile.
DIY music like Rough Trade and more recently Creation.

Stop bleating and do it.

WorkingGirlx

Stop bitching and sign to an indie. Major labels fuck everyone over, plain and simple. Why would anyone sit and bitch about this crap when they could sign to an indie or do it themselves? Hundreds others do it. If Morrissey or Courtney Love released a record on Touch and Go or Matador, they would still sell tons of records.

Hey, not to mention that the record industry allowed Morrissey and Johnny Marr to get away with not paying Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke for so many years! Darn that record industry!

someone not too long ago pointed out something interesting that I had not thought of.

In the US, radio stations don't have to pay a dime for the music they play.

In Europe, they are required to pay some money, which makes sense as you are giving the stations programming for the people at home to tune in for.

But it gives a slant to the napster debate: what is different about someone downloading a song versus hearing it on the radio 5 billion times until they get sick of it?

I know you can burn it onto a CD and be done with it, true, but wouldn't it make sense to get the radio stations to start paying some money as well? I know that at the TV station I work for, we don't get any of our programming for free. We must pay syndicators for what we use, and to me, it's sort of shady when you have on the opposite end radio for which record labels will pay money to the stations as an incentive to play their songs.

But I guess the problem comes in when they know there are a zillion different artists that are as equally untalented as the next and any one of them could hold the lucky spot on their playlist. You know the ones that are discovered are indistinguishable from the next. How many more bands are out there that you don't even know about that do something similar?

The truth is, by not paying radio stations and even paying them, it ironically keeps the labels in a position of power. Because if tomorrow, American stations had to start paying money, then they would start thinking, "we don't owe anything to Sony. They didn't give us a load of free concert tickets to give away like they did in the past, and they aren't going to give us anymore which will raise our costs in buying the tickets for contests as a means of attracting listeners. We can start playing Mr. X from this independent label because his label isn't going to give us jack crap either, and we think this song is slightly better."

courtney love is a was IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. she is a sleezy out of control whore who loves to make movies involving nudity. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY ANYONE WILL PAY ATTENTION TO HER. love should just shut her mouth or keep other things that are 6-12 inches in there in there. she has no say.

Why don't ALL workers unionize and overthrow capitalism? Eliminate greedy corporate scum and royal rock stars as well. Sounds good to me!
http://www.iww.org/

God's honest truth is that most musicians are stupid and would sell there souls to get signed. It has little to do with music and alot to do with gross narcissism.

Don't get me wrong though, i agree with Ms. Love. A union for major label artists in loooong overdue.

It's just that musicians are so stupid, that's all.

ideal

Its well and good what Courtney is saying about the music biz. The people high up certianly are screwing the musicians and everyone down the line, including the consumers. However the vantage point and victims that C is talking about deals with popular and pop muscians who sell millions of records, but see less than thier fair share of the money. The majority of the muscians in this world will never have to worry about being so unfortunate, they'll never sell nearly as many records.
  If you like Jazz, you can come to NY, and look up any of the living greats, and there are many, call them up, and offer them 40 dollars, and you can be trained by a living legend. I find this incredible.
  If you go to the major cities, you can find some great bands, and for 5 to 10 dollars they'll play their soul out, but 99.9% of them will never, ever sell a million records.
Success in music is a very, very small precipice and not many bands or musicians can be there at any given time. Talent and whether you've earned it, it makes no difference.
The billboard can only fit so many names, and the public can remenber less.
So, this whole debate about artist rights and record companies, really seems to me to about the people who have succedded so well in music already, protecting thier value, which is great, for them, but frankly I am not interested in spending my time protecting rich successful people and thier money.

               

Speaking of Courtney, does anyone here like Nirvana?
I would say they are on par with Smiths, and above the Solo work, in my opinion. My music collection and taste includes only those 3. SMiths, Nirvana, and Morrissey.

Such a shame.
  I don't have any strong positive feelings for Courtney, and am surprised how she has become a figure head for "feminism" and "free speech". It seems if you critize her, you are labeled as schovnist (sic). But I will say this, if and when my spouse shoots themself, with a shotgun in the head, I will mourn. I recall Courtney on T.V. saying "everyone wanted me to be the good widow and go off and cry somewhere, and I didn't" . It was inferred from this, that she was a "strong woman". I saw it as kind of callous when a she was on some blantent racist show, like Stern a month later, talking about sleeping with the singer from Bush. Call me judgmental but everything she does reeks of insincerity to me.

  You SHOULD mourn when your spouse kills themself, if you cared about them. But then again, she was married, when 3 months pregnant on the cusp of Neverminds success, and less than two years later, Kurt was dead. Such a shame.

I know its wrong, I know its cruel, I know its typical scapegoating, but I can't help thinking Courtney was a negative influence that lead to the tragic end of one Kurt Cobains life.

There is a good documentary, Kurt and Courtney, which everyone should watch.

"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." - Woody Allen

i think that most artists arent too interested in the business aspect, so they get managers to do the work for them. thats when good folks get shafted.

and saying that it's up to artists to be the ones to take it back, to me, it highlights the futility of that statement more than anything else.

It's a great big social change that must happen, and as long as you have a slew of artists that are too hungry to care about their status, they are pretty much useless. What band is going to refuse a screwy contract after they had been playing for 8 years and are tired of having to work at Taco Bell? They accept that they aren't going to get much because nobody else is getting anything. They accept that they have to "cut" things to make the label happy. However, it's told to them as "you know, you guys are GREAT, but you are guaranteed to get some air play on the radio if you do THIS."

And they know if they don't do THAT, and they bomb, they know that it's very easy for them to be eliminated from the roster. These days in America, most bands are treated as disposably as coke cans. Most bands operate under very wrong assumptions about their talent (AKA "we are better than everyone and we have our own unique sound" and logevity) and it causes them to not really plan accordingly when they finally get signed and start imagining that their career is going to last as long as Aerosmith's when they believe the label views them as the next Aerosmith. All of it doesn't exactly make artists a proactive group in holding on to their stakes.

You gotta hand it to the broad. I tried to read the "letter" but it was so much hard work, so tedious. I never thought she was the type who'd take on such matters. I thought she was hellbent on becoming a fulltime celebrity, hence the movies and such. What does this have to do with Morrissey? Hell knows. Tell you what...Moz is gonna sign up with Rough Trade again. That's how unpredictable our hero is.

the internet has many websites devoted to the business side of music - let's keep this one about Mozza and (more importantly) his music. Let's leave the masturbatory rhetoric somewhere else, shall we?

To sum it up, the business side of music? Who cares? If all of us cared so much, this website would be dedicated to Moz's accountant - let's refocus, PLEASE?

For total insanity, check out the Hole.com message board. It's funny but if you think the tone here is low, you aint seen nothin' yet. Fiftee year old girls proffesing to kill themselves on line... oh, just get on with it, you sad little yanks. Although I'm quite a fan of the black widow myself, no one beats Morrissey and nothing beats 'Morrissey-solo'! (I know, I'm crawling...)