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

["SCOTT ALDRICH" <scott.aldrich@worldnet.att.net>]

Amen

----------
>From: Joe Hartley <jh@brainiac.com>
>To: tv@obbard.com
>Subject: RE: (TV) Re: TV Digest V1 #4
>Date: Fri, Dec 31, 1999, 11:01 AM
>

> "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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