[Infowarrior] - RIAA does *not* represent the artists

[Richard Forno]

EMI/Virgin Records Sues Platinum Selling Band For $30 Million...  
Despite Not Paying Them A Dime In Royalties
from the the-music-business-at-work dept

http://techdirt.com/articles/20080820/0204472040.shtml

It's always fun to remember stories like the following one the next  
time you hear some RIAA exec claim that it represents musicians. The  
RIAA represents the record labels and record labels are continually at  
odds with musicians -- sometimes to extreme levels. Wired reported  
that EMI/Virgin Records had sued the band 30 Seconds To Mars for $30  
million recently. The band is apparently fronted by movie star Jared  
Leto, and is considered something of a success. Its last album went  
platinum and won some awards. So why the lawsuit? Well, EMI implied  
that the band failed to deliver its latest record on time, but members  
of the band have now responded with a very different story. Wired now  
points us to the response from 30 Seconds To Mars, where the band  
notes that the lawsuit appears to have a lot more to do with the band  
opting out of its contract. The band points out that, under California  
law, a contract of more than seven years is not valid -- and the  
contract EMI held with the band was for nine years.

So why opt out? Perhaps this has something to do with it:

     If you think the fact that we have sold in excess of 2 million  
records and have never been paid a penny is pretty unbelievable, well,  
so do we. And the fact that EMI informed us that not only aren't they  
going to pay us AT ALL but that we are still 1.4 million dollars in  
debt to them is even crazier. That the next record we make will be  
used to pay off that old supposed debt just makes you start wondering  
what is going on. Shouldn't a record company be able to turn a profit  
from selling that many records? Or, at the very least, break even? We  
think so.

This is, of course, rather par for the course in the recording  
industry. As Courtney Love explained years ago, it's quite rare for a  
recording artist to ever see a dime of royalties from selling music.  
The label gives the band an "advance" which really isn't that much,  
and then uses some funky accounting tricks to claim all of the band's  
royalties as paying off that advance as well as covering other fees  
involved in the marketing and distribution of the album. In this case,  
apparently, despite selling 2 million records, EMI is still claiming  
that the band has $1.4 million to pay back. Not so long ago, we noted  
that Lyle Lovett was in the same boat: 4.6 million albums sold, no  
royalties paid.

So, at what point will the press and politicians stop buying the  
RIAA's claims that it's looking out for the musicians and trying to  
get them paid? The RIAA has always been in the business of not paying  
musicians.