An open letter to Courtney, Don, Billy, Alanis, etc...

By Noel Ramos, InterMixx IndieGate (more articles from this author) 2001-04-17

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Dear Courtney,

I responded to your "open letter" in which you invited emails from those who wanted to join you in your fight for artists' rights. I certainly didn't expect a personal response from you, knowing how many replies you'd get, but I did expect one of your people to answer me, or at least an auto-response... something.

But I did not to hear from anyone.

I have been working for over 12 years to organize the independent musicians in this country, to face the very issues you have brought the spotlight upon with your celebrity status. I am thrilled that you want to help, but please do not forget the majority of the musicians in the US, that is to say; the INDIES.

To you, Don, Billy, Alanis and others, we thank you for your awesome efforts, but please don't ignore us. We are the majority, and we don't have Lawyers, Managers, Publicists, Promoters and Producers to help us succeed. We struggle to survive, in "Do It Yourself" mode, in order to keep chasing the dream that consumes us, in order to keep doing what we have to do, regardless of the difficulty. We are artists, just like you, and you were once just like us too, remember?

The majority is a silent one, but not by choice. Rather, they are a silent majority because they are far overshadowed by their much more visible and notable colleagues, the few who have managed to beat the unbelievable odds and actually achieve great success as an artist. They are also overshadowed by the industry that preys upon them, kept in the dark and given as little support as possible. "Just keep crankin' out those tunes, we'll market 'em and make lots of money off of 'em." How many artists see a reasonable amount of the profits earned off of their creative labors?

Again, just as I witnessed at Georgetown University not so long ago, in the recent Senate Judiciary Hearings, the "musicians" are being represented by Don Henley, Alanis Morissette, and others whose level of success does not typify that of the average struggling musician who has no record label deal. Artists' rights need to apply to all artists, not just a select few. Whether or not a musician has achieved great financial success, or is in a recording contract, or has a Manager or a Lawyer, they should still receive a fair percentage of any profits gained from their works.

The music industry is at a crossroads, and artists such as yourselves, who have achieved a position of power through financial and promotional success, can have a very positive effect on the reshaping of this business. I ask you now, please seek out those who are in touch with the silent majority, seek out the musicians who struggle daily, and help them make their voices be heard. If you do so, all musicians will benefit, not just a select few.

Alanis, we love you, but if you had spoken to me, or any number of indie artists before you went to Washington, you may not have said "my initial resistance to the new services created online was based on the debate having been framed in terms of "piracy." But what I have since come to realize is that for the majority of artists, this so-called "piracy" may have actually been working in their favor."

I don't think your realization is accurate, I do not believe that the majority agrees with you Alanis. The reality is that the majority of "recording artists" press on the average, about a thousand CDs, and then struggle to sell them at $5 or $10 each, from stage, on the internet, in supportive retail stores and on the subway going to their "day gig' if they can. The thought of losing one of the only concrete revenue sources they have terrifies most indies.

Artists like you, who have reached such a level of success, can truly help these people because you can get the powers that be to sit up and listen to you! When you said, "Most recording artists never receive royalties past their initial advance due to the financial structure of most record company contracts..." you totally overlooked the vast majority of recording artists, the ones who DON'T have a contract. Many of them do not want one.

When you continued with, "From these artists' viewpoint, their music is free since they do not, in the end, receive money from any of the sales. That "free" internet distribution allows the artist to aggregate an audience and create a direct relationship with that audience as well as develop a community among the people who love their music. This in turn allows that artist to generate compensation through other outlets such as touring and merchandise. For the majority of artists, this amounts to making enough money to be in survival mode." you were off the mark. See my article on this very subject entitled "Consensus Amongst Indies" which illustrates that it is widely agreed by the majority of those indies I interviewed that they simply can NOT survive on gigs and merch sales alone. Most indies get paid very little if at all, to perform, and none of them make any real profit off of selling bric-a-brac.

To all of the powerful artists out there, please use your clout to help your fellow musician community as a whole. The entire range of musicians need to be represented, and they need to be heard now, while these issues are in the malleable state, or Pete Townsend will be singing again:

"I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss"

Don't let another important policy making event happen without an effort to see that equal representation is present, and that the silent majority need not be silent any longer.

Thank you for listening, and for your help at this critical time for artists' rights.

Related MusicDish e-Journal Articles:
» Consensus Amongst Indies (2001-03-25)
» Reply to Ramos' Consensus Amongst Indies (2001-04-03)
» Reply to the Reply to Ramos' Consensus Amongst Indies (2001-04-09)

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