> > You wrote up a good and actually an IMO realistic scenario, at least > for "independent" artists. > > Steve Albini some years ago wrote up, how it currently works in the > music industry, where artists are forced voluntarily to play by > "their" rules: http://www.negativland.com/albini.html > A must-read. > > ciao > -- > Frank Barknecht _ ______footils.org__ Frank, I've read this before. It's a very good read. I agree. However, I have no patience or sorrow for people who: 1) Don't read their contracts before they sign. 2) Don't pay a lawyer to translate it to English they understand before they sign. 3) Hope against all the odds that what they are hearing from the Industry Lacky vs. what is written and legally agreed to in the contract, will be done. 4) And then in the face of all of this they go ahead and sign, only later to complain that they don't like the terms they agreed to. (Please don't raise the fraud issue here with uneducated people signing contracts in the music industry. I agree about all the old black blues musicians in the U.S. - that stinks and I'd like to see that made right. But that's not what Mr. Albini is talking about, and I refuse to see Sheryl Crow or Don Hendly as 'uneducated' no matter how much they complain about their contracts today.) I work on contracts all the time. It's part of my job. There are a lot of times where two sides do not come to agreement, the contract doesn't get signed, and business doesn't get done. Mr. Albini's story about the trench filled with stinky stuff makes a great picture. However, I fear that the truth is most artists are more interested in fame than protecting their rights. If they wanted to protect their rights, they would either negotiate better deals, or walk away and find a different way to do it. If you sign, and it doesn't work out, no fair complaining about the terms. You signed it, and you weren't under duress. (That would be illegal.) If you walk away, no fair complaining if it doesn't work out. That was the price of freedom, and the value of freedom. I don't know where the GNU-ish version of freedom really fits into this discussion, but please remember, if NO musician's signed contracts with the labels, they'd be out of business. The problem is there are too many greedy people to even have this be the case... ;-) Cheers, Mark
