Listeners who have come to hate the labels believe their favorite artists no longer need the labels. If only that were true. Maybe Prince can afford to cast his label aside and go directly to the fans. But he did so only after becoming a household name. The vast majority of musicians will never find an audience large enough to let them quit their day jobs without a staff of marketing and promotions people who know how to book a tour, make a video and get their CDs into stores… —Jeff Howe —Listen, It Isn’t the Labels, It’s the Law (WashPost)
The link will be dead soon, of course, as is the case with all WashPost articles.
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The "cd" generation has simply been inundated with stories of how labels have screwed over artists with recording contracts. We see labels and big, greedy, and unethical companies which steal most of the artists money to line their own pockets. Sure, the really successful artists get rich. But wan't it tlc who declared bankruptcy at the height of their popularity, because their label kept nearly all of the money they earned, while forcing tlc to pay all their own expenses? What was the figure I last heard, the average artist makes $0.10 on each cd they sell? Anyways, that's why we don't mind "stealing" from the "artist". I wouldn't really care if someone stole a dime from me.