True Tales from The Record Industry : V.0.2

"Don't believe the hype." or We have seen the light ...

This is truely one of the most laughable pieces of news that we have run across in a quite long time. A group of "major labels" are now telling bands not to send in demos but to set up blogs and music on a site sanctioned by the labels themselves. To add insult to injury they try to play it off as if they are doing a service to the planet by saying that it is a waste of plastic. Ha!

Collectively, the "record industry" have been staunch & militant copy-proctection advocates, locking up music thru DRM, lawsuits, some even taking the extreme measure of infecting consumer computers. By stifling technologies under the guise of piracy, they continue to crap on the rights of both artists and consumers alike.

While they continue to restrict policy ... now they want us to do their work for them? Masked in a fantasy that, we the artist, can get a "record deal"?

So what's in a record deal???

Well, if you are "lucky" enough to get signed, first prize is that you lose all rights to your music "throughout the universe and in perpetuity." - um .... that means FOREVER. In addition, you also get the chance at losing the controlling interest to your publishing. Sound exciting??? We're not thru yet!!! You also get the opportunity to give the labels your income from your touring, your merch sales, plus any and all forms of digital distribution (with the added bonus that they get to sue your fans on your behalf and collect money that will never be paid to you). And that's just the beginning!!!

Yes, you can have all this and more for a $200,000 advance (loan) that must be paid back (with interest) not to mention the fact that some of the revenue generated won't even go to recoup your supposed costs (hey, like we said: it's not as though the publishing belongs to you... or the money from digital downloads, or your merchandise, or your name, image and likeness for that matter. You should've read between the lines before you signed on the dotted one).

If you are a failure and under-perform (sell less than one million copies), maybe you will get dropped from the roster if you're one of the fortunate ones. Too bad your music is no longer yours though.

What a deal!

"Don't believe the hype..."
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DIY or DIE.

Support indie music of be force-fed crap.