AFTRA goes after Big Five
p2pnet.net News:- “The right to audit which currently exists in the Record Industry is approaching the same level of abstraction as the right to vote did in the Deep South before the Civil Rights Act,” AFTRA ( American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) president John Connolly said yesterday.
He was addressing the California Legislature on Senator Kevin Murray’s SB 1034 that, “provides recording artists under royalty contracts the statutory right to confirm, through audits, proper payment for their work, and conduct such audits – or have such audits conducted by their chosen representatives – individually or in groups,” says an AFTRA statement.
“While this bill does not sufficiently overhaul a broken system, it is a crucial first step in codifying threshold rights for all royalty artists,” Connolly said, going on the that many artists are “kept in debt to their labels and unable to challenge historical practices without committing economic and artistic suicide”.
Recently, following a two-year investigation, New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer ordered the Big Five record labels to return $50 million to musicians they’ve had under contract.
Now SONY Music Entertainment, Sony ATV Music Publishing, Warner Music Group, UMG Recordings, Universal Music, EMI Music Publishing, BMG Songs, Careers-BMG Music Publishing, BMG Music and the Harry Fox Agency must, “ensure that the artists and their descendants will receive the compensation to which they are entitled,” Spitzer said.
The order came when Spitzer’s office found many artists and writers weren’t being paid royalties because record companies “had failed to maintain contact with the performers and had stopped making required payments”.
Sam Moore of ‘Soul Man’ and ‘Hold On! I’m Comin’ fame is one of several artists suing Sony, Universal, BMG, Warner and EMI for failure to make or report royalties to their retirement funds.
Also testifying, “The record companies are finally beginning to pay attention to this problem that they, themselves, created … because there are no consequences for underreporting, they play ‘catch me if you can’, said Walter Yentikoff, former head of Columbia/Sony Records.
“I began my career in 1992,” said Joi Marshall of Jade. But, “I have yet to see one royalty statement or one check.”
An earlier version of the bill passed in the State Senate last year, says AFRTAR, adding that an amended compromise bill, agreed to by the Industry in principle, is currently being drafted with specific language pending. SB 1034 will be heard next by the Assembly Judiciary Committee before going to the full Assembly.
In its amended form, the bill would, “confirm specific auditing rights and processes while preserving any other rights artists currently have”.
