After receiving a placating letter from
Senator Dianne Feinstein regarding the scurrilous
RIAA debacle, I'm afraid I lost my temper on the return. When are these people on Capitol Hill going to see the light regarding the new radio?
Here is the letter I sent in reply to the vapid response Senator Feinstein sent to us....
___________________________________________________________________
Senator Feinstein,
As a musician, writer and publisher for over forty years in the world music industry, I must say that it is remarkable how congress has allowed these abhorrent rates to be handed down without full accountability from the music conglomerates who created and paid for them.
Do you realize that not only will webcasters be destroyed but some of terrestrial radio as well?
Sound Exchange is basing their rates on a percentage of revenue from advertising, correct? The rates are so high that even webcasters with a decent revenue stream will be decimated financially. And what about webcasters who refuse to utilize advertising? Are they to be ruined strictly because the RIAA wants them off the air? What about the educators and teachers? They are being pummeled as well.
As I mentioned, I have been producing records and publishing music for over forty years. I have spent more money on attorneys than I care to think of as it makes me quite ill. All that expense, trying to collect what I was owed via contract.
I made a contract with
Capitol Records (now
EMI) in 1965. They owe me money. When my attorney wrote and asked why I hadn't been paid, they simply sent a letter back stating that I would have to
sue them for an accounting. Do you know what an international lawsuit costs? What's the point of trying to collect?
This is the way the majors have always done business. They owe you money, they force you to sue, knowing that litigation costs could wind up being more expensive than it's worth to collect. If you do have the capital with which to sue, eventually they settle for one tenth of what you're owed. Look at their savings! They have attorneys on staff for such purposes. I have lived with this syndrome all my working life in the record business.
Yes....the old ways are dead. The major record companies have killed the geese that laid the golden eggs. Those days will not return and the RIAA,
Sound Exchange nor the
CRB can not revitalize something that has been that corrupt for so long. The artists, writers and creators have found another way to gain their fair compensation with no "middle-men" holding their hands out, no drug dealers, no scheming attorneys and no caveat filled contracts. It's a new world. Too bad the the majors were too blind to see it coming.
As
Bob Dylan once told us, "Everybody wants a piece of my ass." Truer words were never spoken. I hate to think of how many Rolls Royce payments I have made for people at the major companies, while my wife, kids and I drove in a Toyota and lived in stuffy court rooms.
You may say, "Well....this man is just a nut case. I'm sure those honorable people don't treat artists that way." I have reams of depositions which say otherwise. Outright lies proven in court.
All I'm saying is that the major companies, instead of wreaking destruction, should come to us (the webcasters) and say...."How can we help you help our business?" That's the way it was in the old days when I was a young promo man for
Warner Brothers and FM came on the air. I went out into the field and did anything I could to get the records played; no matter what or where.
We worked with the new media. We didn't try to kill them then....why now?I love the work you are doing for the people of
California and we are proud to be able to live in The
Golden State. However; you are missing the big picture on this one Ms. Feinstein.
Here is a link that may help you visualize the total picture:
http://www.kurthanson.com/May God bless you and yours.
John Rhys-Eddins
BluePower.comThe Independent Voice Of The Blues
I have just received the sad news. Bobby Pickett died today of leukemia. He was 69, four years older than I.
