If you really wanted to track down P. Diddy, you might try the New York stage where he’s starring in a Broadway play.
Looking for Dolly Parton’s phone number? The managers of Dollywood, her 123-acre theme park, might have it. And I’ll bet you could catch up with David Bowie somewhere on his multi-city concert tour.
The world’ largest record companies, however, apparently lost contact with these famous musicians. And so, under an agreement announced this week, five major recording companies will pay out $50 million in back royalties to thousands of artists.
During a two-year investigation, New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer found that the labels were not maintaining contact with artists or making a sufficient effort to track them down. As a result, many artists and writers went unpaid while companies held on to the money.
What’s wrong with this picture?
The recording industry has enough money and enthusiasm to hunt down and file lawsuits against students sharing MP3s online. It complains that free downloading through peer-to-peer sharing networks robs artists of their royalties and has crippled the music business.
But amid this so-called pain and suffering, the recording conglomerates apparently couldn’t handle the due diligence on their own contracted artists. What’s worse, many of the artists involved are less well known, which means they’re less successful commercially and probably more in need of those royalty dollars.
I’m not sure what Bowie will buy with his $10,698 in back payments–maybe a purse for his wife, Iman?–but it’s certainly not a significant chunk of his income this year, whereas less popular artists could really use the cash.
Next issue: Were the more obscure musicians and writers difficult to locate? (More difficult than finding those anonymous downloaders through their ISPs?) Maybe, but the recording companies just weren’t doing the work, and none of their excuses added up legally.
With the most prominent artists, there’s little defense. Some might argue that Bowie and Parton aren’t topping the charts, but to say they moved off the grid is a tough sell.
“It’s not like it’s hard to find them,” Spitzer said. “You could go to a concert and throw the check at them onstage.”
Under the settlement, BMG, EMI, Sony, Universal Music and Warner Music Group must beef up the search for unpaid artists and clarify the process for claiming unpaid royalties.
Good. But for an industry that blames its problems on consumers stealing music and alleges to prosecute them out of concern for their artists, and also maintains huge profit margins and gouges customers with exorbitant CD prices, it’s a little too late.
To be fair, the record companies did start to remedy the situation once the investigation was under way. Also, in response to the agreement, the industry applauded the effort and urged artists to come forward.
Still, they argue, this problem is really a minor issue. The Recording Industry Association of America said that the unpaid royalties are a narrow segment of all royalties.
Just as downloaded MP3s make up a narrow segment of all recorded music, right guys? The RIAA and crew aren’t exactly winning the PR battle lately, and this latest news won’t help.
Yes, I realize that the two are not directly reciprocal, but it doesn’t matter to consumers.
For good or for bad, I know several people who suddenly will feel a whole lot better, maybe even a little gleeful, about sharing their music files. It’s their version of sticking it to The Man.
———-
asneumer@tribune.com
