Members of Congress – before you try to step in between radio and musicians, don’t you think you should at least take a look at the horrific history of trouble between labels and musicians? This reader’s comment is a must-read, Capitol Hill.
Last weekend I was watching a cable TV program about “One-Hit Wonders that Reached #1 in the 80’s”, and I was surprised that one of those was Black Velvet by Alannah Myles. But the real surprise was what she herself said when they interviewed her. She said, “I never saw a penny from that record because of problems with my record label. I’m not a lawyer or an accountant. I had to tour and do concerts to pay my bills.”
Amazing — a great smash hit like that got to number one and had tons of radio air play making millions for someone, but not a penny for her. It seems to me that radio did its job, but the record company did not. How many examples are there like this? Radio generated demand and sales by promoting a great record, but where did the money go? When you examine the issue case by case, it becomes clear that relationship between artists and record labels is where the financial disparity lies.
Dennis Anderson
Montana
