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RE: (TV) Re: TV Digest V1 #4



"Emilie Hsu" <ehsu@debevoise.com> wrote:
> Come on, it's not like the labels are out to get you or something.

Actually, in the majority of cases, they are.  Mike's story of RCA
attempting to weasel out of a $150K contract is the norm, not the
exception.

The entertainment industry manages to get away with tactics that
include accounting practices which show hit movies losing money.
(Witness Art Buchwald's case over "Coming to America", or whatever
that Eddie Murphy movie was.)

Frankly, musicians are easy prey, because very few beginning musicians
have law degrees, and can barely afford to pay the rent, never mind a
lawyer.  So what happens?  Artists sign bad contracts to get a disc
out, only to find that they make squat off their efforts.  It's then
up to the bands to hire lawyers if they make some money to try and
recoup what they should have had all along.  The only real winners
are the lawyers - and that's the way they like it.

There's an appalling lack of ethics in the entertainment industry.
You can count the number of labels (like Robert Fripp's DGM) that
are artist-friendly on one hand.  That's terribly sad.

Frank Zappa compared the way labels used to work with the way they
work today in his autobiography:

"One of the good things that happened in the sixties was that at
least some music of an unusual or experimental nature got recorded and
released.  So, who *were* those wise, incredibly creative executives
that made this Golden Era possible?  Hip young guys with Perrier breath?
No--they were old cigar-chomper guys who listened to the tapes and said,
"I dunno.  Who knows what the fuck it is?  G'head--put it out there!
Who knows?  I dunno."

"We were better off with that attitude than we are now. The
'bright young men' are far more conservative--and more dan-
gerous than the old guys ever were.
So, how did The New Guys get in there? Some got in because their 
Dad was one of The Old Guys. Some of them actually worked their 
way in--the guy with the cigar said one
 day: "Sherman, look, I 
took a chance-it went out there--next thing
 I know, we sold a 
few million units. I still don't know what the fuck
 this shit is, but
we gotta do some more. I tell you, Sherm--I need
 some advice! Why 
don't we get one of those hippie bastards in here."
  So, they hire 
the hippie bastard--not to do anything 'big,'
 just carry the'coffee; 
bring the mail; stand around and look
 happening.  So one day the 
old guy says: "Sherman, listen--I think
 we can trust him; he looks 
like he's 'happening.' We'll make him an
 A&R man--let HIM talk to 
these stupid fuckers with the tambourine
 'n incense. He understands
this shit--he's got the same hair. "

"From there, he's moving up and up; next thing you know
he's got HIS feet on the desk and he's saying, "Get rid of
Sherman, Ms. Maxwell--and--oh, that 'new group'? We can't take
a chance on them ... it's just not what the kids really want--I
know--I got the same hair. "

"Things will not improve until these cocksuckers move back
to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

"There is something to be said for an executive who is willing
to take a chance on an idea, even if he doesn't like or understand
it. The new guys don't have that spirit. They are forever looking
over their shoulder. (Remember when they used to have the same
hair! All that shit they stuck up their nose made it fall out a
couple of years ago.)"

(end quote)


======================================================================
       Joe Hartley - UNIX/network Consultant - jh@brainiac.com
     12 Emma G Lane, Narragansett, RI  02882 - vox 401.782.9042
Without deviation from the norm, "progress" is not possible. - FZappa

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