Forwarded by Negativland.
>As always, for a complete overview, read the article in its entirety.
><http://www.latimes.com/business/updates/lat_love010228.htm>
>
>http://www.latimes.com/business/updates/lat_love010228.htm
>
>Courtney Love Seeks to Rock Record Labels' Contract Policy
>Music: Suit challenges Universal's royalty practices. Firm says it is fair.
>By CHUCK PHILIPS, Times Staff Writer
>
>. . ."It is difficult to challenge a giant music company and go up against
>traditional industry practices, but there is no reason why Courtney can't
>win
>this case," said attorney Yale Lewis, who successfully represented the
>father
>of Jimi Hendrix in a case to reclaim the rock star's catalog from MCA
>Records. "If this goes to trial, it will be a jury that decides the facts.
>Not the industry.". . .
>
>. . .Love and Universal are to appear in Los Angeles County Superior Court
>today for a status hearing on the suit.
>
>The singer-songwriter might be the first artist to challenge the industry's
>standard contract who actually has the financial muscle to withstand a
>lengthy court battle. . .
>
>"I could end up being the music industry's worst nightmare: a smart gal with
>a fat bank account who is unafraid to go down in flames fighting for a
>principle," Love said. . .
>
>. . .Breaking with tradition, Love stepped outside of the industry to enlist
>a legal team to challenge the contract. She fired her former music attorney
>in December after his firm balked at trying the case and attempted to
>convince her to accept a settlement offer.
>
>Love then hired A. Barry Cappello, a hard-nosed trial lawyer with no
>Hollywood ties who has won massive verdicts against such financial monoliths
>as Bank of America. . .
>
>. . .Among the 15 causes of action listed in her suit, Love is challenging
>the legality of her contract's assignment clause, a provision that allowed
>the company that owned her contract to sell it without her consent. The suit
>contends that the recent trend of mega-mergers and consolidation has harmed
>the industry's artists-and rendered their contracts invalid. . .
>
>. . .Universal, which has since been acquired by Vivendi, is taking the
>position that the seven-year statute does not apply to recording artists.
>Sources say Love could owe the conglomerate as much as $100 million for
>undelivered albums. . .
>
>. . .Love says the primary reason the Big Five record conglomerates have
>been
>able to call the shots for so long is that they control nearly 90% of the
>music sold throughout the world. . .
>
>The reason artists have no clout, Love says, is the major labels work
>together as an unlawful trust restraining trade and competition. . .
>
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>Love to Challenge State Law Protecting Labels
>. . .According to her suit, the labels falsely told lawmakers that their
>development costs were so prohibitive that the industry did not begin to
>make
>money until an artist had been signed for seven years. The labels also
>misled
>legislators, the suit says, by implying that artists signed to standard
>seven-album deals can deliver one album a year if they choose.
>
>Love's suit maintains that it is impossible for any artist to fulfill the
>terms dictated in the standard recording agreement. The reason: Record
>companies typically insist on a two-year gap between album releases. During
>that period, the company usually embarks on a marketing campaign that
>includes a series of single and video releases plus extensive touring by the
>act. As a result, the standard deal usually chains an artist to a label for
>at least 14 years--the span of most music careers.
>
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>
>
>. . .In her suit, Love contends that she can't work for Vivendi because it
>has a completely different agenda from the rock-oriented boutique label to
>which she committed. Love's music is now marketed and promoted by Interscope
>Records, a hit-driven label whose contract offer she rejected in 1992 before
>signing with Geffen. . .
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