Sunday, September 04, 2011
Record Biz Braces for Legal Battles Over Copyright Law
Rolling Stone Music: Starting in two years, the rights to classic albums by some of rock's biggest acts, including Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town, Billy Joel's 52nd Street and the Eagles' The Long Run, could revert back to those artists. The change threatens to upend the music business – putting more cash in musicians' pockets and less in those of the labels. "It's something I've thought about on and off for a while, and it got put on the back burner because it wasn't timely," says Eagles singer and drummer Don Henley, who founded the Recording Artists Coalition, which advocates for artists' rights. "And now the time has come."
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5 comments:
i feel like in the last couple of years artists are getting more and more control over there own art through alternative media. the record companies instead of adapting to the new environment around them have entrenched themselves in the past using contracts and legal red tape in the effort to try to make more money to the detriment of everything around them. At some point its going to come to a head artists are going to be strangled by record companies or the legal battles are going to become so ridiculous that no one will take them seriously
Artists should be given the right to their master tapes, I mean it is their music. They wrote it, they recorded it, and yes, sold it to record companies. Although musicians have signed over their full ownership of their music to record companies they still should be able to get it back after a reasonable amount of time, such as 35 years. They majority of the money that will have been made off of these tapes has already happened, the peak passed and now sales are at a constant decrease. By giving ownership back to artists companies aren’t going to end up loosing an unreasonable amount of money, especially if it’s a law and all the record companies are doing it. It is simply the right thing to do by giving back what was originally theirs and is so near and dear to their hearts. By having this as part of the copyright law things won't necessarily be less heated but easier to live by since it's a law.
Personally, I'm not sure what to think about this newfound freedom for the artists. It is probably going to set off a whole stream of legal battles but it could be a good change. Artists get a little more control of their work after they've finished creating it. Sure this is hurting the political and economic side of the music industry but it just seems like it's an artist's individual right to hold on to what was theirs to begin with. It is understandable that not all artists will take advantage of owning their own music. It can be a death sentence when fighting a record company for the rights to certain albums. In that sense, I think that the companies still have a hold over the artists but at least now the artists have a fighting chance. Maybe they'll get a little more input into the music world other than their initial message they send through song.
Slowly, but surely, artist have been gaining greater control of their own music from the labels that have been creating them as the digital age has dawned. With the creation of digital distribution, and the ability through social media and other means to get your name out there, the record company is starting to become a bit of a dinosaur, and that is for the better. Musicians should have the rights to their own music and shouldn't have to go through the middle man of the record company to get their music to the masses. We are slowly seeing the death of record companies as we move on from mainstream physical distribution, and getting the rights of older music back to the musicians is another step in the process
We keep hearing more about new battles between the industry organizations and the artists, and every time I have to wonder why these forces are opposed. It clearly points to a misalignment between the stated role of the industry organizations and their actions. I'm still hoping that as it becomes easier and easier for artists to direct market, they have less need for the organizations that don't help produce music, as much as they extract value from the artists.
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