Whenever you hear any of the five big Labels mention how downloading is bad for artists, what they are really saying is downloading is bad for the Music Industry — not the artist.
Excerpt:
“The world’s largest record labels will return $50 million in unpaid royalties to thousands of artists following a two-year probe by the New York State Attorney General’s Office, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Tuesday.
While some popular artists such as David Bowie, Sean “P Diddy” Combs and Dolly Parton will benefit, the majority of the artists are not stars, but rather more obscure performers and one-hit wonders, Spitzer said.
“We have this misperception that artists have all gained enormous wealth by virtue of their success,” he said at a press conference. “But there are many artists who struggle, who have one successful song and they depend on those royalties. We have found that there has been an accumulation of royalty payments that were not distributed to the artists.”
Rolling Stone observed:
“As part of the deal, the labels and publishers also agreed to list the names of artists and writers who are owed monies, post the procedure to claim outstanding royalties in various music industry publications, share contact information for artists with other labels and work with various industry groups and unions to locate artists. The companies also pledged that their royalty and accounting departments would work towards improving their payment procedures and that they would abide by the state’s Abandoned Property Law. If an artist or his or her family cannot be located for payment, those royalties are to be paid to the state, which holds them until a claim is made.”
Reuters noted that “Label executives, for their part, say it was never their intention to withhold royalties. In many instances, artists simply failed to provide updated contact information where labels should send their checks.”
Perhaps thats the new defense downloaders should use: We wanted to pay the artists, but we just couldn’t find them.
Pathetic.
Sources:
Artists to get $50 mln in unpaid music royalties
Derek Caney
Reuters, 05.04.04, 3:06 PM ET
http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2004/05/04/rtr1358573.html
Bowie, DMB Rescue Royalties
ANDREW DANSBY
Rolling Stone, May 4, 2004
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=19689
Spitzer cuts music royalty deal
Crain Communications, Inc
http://www.crainsny.com/news.cms?newsId=7918
Spitzer: Struggling Artists To Get Royalties
1010 WINS Radio, May 4, 2004 11:50 am US/Eastern
http://1010wins.com/topstories/winstopstories_story_125115404.html
Spitzer should be considered a folk hero inside the working level music industry. Its unfortunate that people are so damn greedy that they resort to misappropriating and replacing embezeled funds once caught by an eye slicker than their victims’. “Oh-I’m sorry. . .dose that fifty million belong to you? Oh goodness me–what a dreadful mistake. And to think I was going to put my kids and whore’s kids through Harvard next year after I get back from the French Riviera.” : “Sound of Literati” witness the powerful experience of the spoken word Xplosion! SonyConnect,Emusic,Etherstream,Music Is Here,Napster To Go,BuyMusic, AOL”s MusicNet,Mperia,AT&T mMode,PureTracks,
AudioLunchBox,NetMusic,QTRnote,EMepe3,Lindows,
Viztas Digital Marketplace,Apple iTunes,MusicMatch,Rhapsody,PureTracks,MSN,
OD2,RuleRadio,CatchMusic,DigiPie,Online Promo,DiscLogic,Tower,VirginDigital,Yahoo-Launch,CatchMusic,Sympatico,Telus,RollingStone
and more. . .Peace!
Just want to say that my brother is owed royalties from
some of these companies. I have tried getting in touch
with these companies including the New York Attorney
General. As of yet I have not gotten One person to take interest in locating my brothers royalties. By the way, my brother is deceased and my parents are too, and so I am the next of kin. Other than hiring a lawyer,
what can I personally do to locate my monies???
J.Smith, USA