Comment Discipline Global Mobile does it right (Score 2, Informative) 780
Want to see what the recorded music world could be like if there were fair contracts and artists owned their own music? Check out Discipline Global Mobile, a company started by Robert Fripp (King Crimson, etc etc). In particular, check out their
founding aims.
Stuff that sticks out:
* "We [DGM] pay the artist the royalties, roughly three to four times what they'd get elsewhere"
* "Re: Promotional fees - [major label companies'] Promotional budgets include expense accounts, first and business class travel, good hotels, company cars, mobile 'phones, $300 lunches - all the things that most young artists can't afford - but which someone's record royalties are paying for. I've [Fripp] known promotion men use their budgets to have parties and dinners for their friends. DGM doesn't do lunches - we do afternoon tea and cake."
Unlike other companies, which end up owning the copyrights to recordings that the artists have paid for themselves, many (most? all?) DGM artists retain the copyrights to their compositions and recordings. Seriously.
Do you realize how big a deal that is for the artist to own the recordings? That's the difference between freedom and indentured servitude.
The major record companies will continue to resist treating their artists in an honest fashion, but there's some hope that companies like DGM can make a difference.
founding aims.
Stuff that sticks out:
* "We [DGM] pay the artist the royalties, roughly three to four times what they'd get elsewhere"
* "Re: Promotional fees - [major label companies'] Promotional budgets include expense accounts, first and business class travel, good hotels, company cars, mobile 'phones, $300 lunches - all the things that most young artists can't afford - but which someone's record royalties are paying for. I've [Fripp] known promotion men use their budgets to have parties and dinners for their friends. DGM doesn't do lunches - we do afternoon tea and cake."
Unlike other companies, which end up owning the copyrights to recordings that the artists have paid for themselves, many (most? all?) DGM artists retain the copyrights to their compositions and recordings. Seriously.
Do you realize how big a deal that is for the artist to own the recordings? That's the difference between freedom and indentured servitude.
The major record companies will continue to resist treating their artists in an honest fashion, but there's some hope that companies like DGM can make a difference.
