Courtney's a little mad

Wow! Someone is a little angry.
It's understandable though. To be quite honest I knew absolutely nothing about the recording industry and recording artists. I was always under the impression that recording artists made the big bucks. The way that a lot of them are portrayed via television and magazines would falsely lead someone (like myself) to believe this.

Love has every right to be upset with the recording industry. With the copyright laws, artists have no right to their own work, when so many million CDs sell artists see almost none of that money, they're basically working for free. Love states, "Authors own their books and license them to publishers. When the contract runs out, writers gets their books back. But record companies own our copyrights forever." With the "works for hire" under the 19978 Copyright Act songs can be sold to the highest bidder instead of a legacy going back to the artists family. It's easy to see why an artist would be mad when it's harder and harder to file for bankruptcy even when you're being paid 35 cents a cd, like Tony Braxton. I didn't know any of this...when I hear of an artist going bankrupt, I automatically think that they were being foolish and irresponsible with their finances. Never did it occur to me that they weren't being paid!

This is sad for artists who really, truly and honestly have a love and passion for what they do. Why continue to deal with producers, labels, and the recording industry if this is how you're treated? The love of music.

At least Courtney Love isn't "against" sites like Napster. She sees it as an opportunity to get her music out there in a different way, to a wider demographic. Smart. She boldly states that the quality sucks, but if someone really wanted her music, the good stuff, then they would go directly to her. She also stated that there really is no need for gatekeepers anymore. Artists are able to put out there music demos in all types of ways. How are you going to stop an artist for playing live via webcast say in the privacy of their home. You can't. With new media, there are no limitations.

http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/2000/06/14/love/print.html