ARTIST'S RIGHTS IN THE SYSTEM OF WRONGS
Question: What do these artists have in common?
, Spike Lee, Chaka Khan, Faith Evans, Dru Hill, The Lox
Answer: L. Londell McMillan - who is quickly becoming one of the entertainment industry's top lawyers, as well as a Guardian Angel for artists' rights. While record company executives may wish he would just go away, more & more artists r seeking his services.
Y? Because more artists r beginning 2 awaken 2 the Real Truth of how the industry works, a movement that was largely set 4th by 
& Londell in the highly publicized struggle between & Warner Bros. Londell was able 2 emancipate from his contract with the label, and most recently helped 2 secure an amiable deal between Arista Records & .
Currently Londell is working with Faith Evans & The Lox 2 help remove them from their contracts with Bad Boy Entertainment. According 2 Londell, artists r not seeing substantial profits from their sales. Labels spend funds on samples and promotions, in which the artist has no control over how much is spent. But then the artist has 2 recoup whatever funds the label does spend - there4 affecting the artist's income from royalties.
THE ROYALTY GAME
Let's take a look at how some of this breaks down:
Royalties (the percentage of $$ that goes 2 the artist) r often computed as a percentage of the Suggested Retail List Price of records. Retail price is the amount of $$ the retailer makes from the customer as compared 2 the wholesale price received by the record company (from the store).
So let's say the artist's royalty is 10% of the retail price. Then the company deducts what's known as a packaging charge - the industry norm is 20% 4 cassettes and 25% 4 compact discs. This is another way in which the artist's royalty is reduced since the packaging charge is a lot more than any package realistically costs. The result of this is the Royalty Base. So if your retail price on a CD is $15.99, minus packaging ($4), your royalty base is $11.99. So if the artist has a 10% royalty, they receive $1.20.
The next step 2 figure in is that the royalties r paid 4 each record SOLD. Here we get in2 what is called Normal Distributor Free Goods. A lot of record companies give away 15% of the records they ship. It makes it look like the purchaser is getting a discount (but the wholesale price is actually higher). Since the 15% of records shipped r free, they don't have 2 pay the artist royalties on every 15 of 100 records shipped! So 4 every 100,000 units shipped, 15,000 r free goods. Then u have 85,000 units left that r royalty bearing. Instead of making $120,000, the artist makes $108,000 - a difference of $18,000! All this and we still have not gotten in2 the cost of advertising, promotion, and studio time, which also get taken out of the artist's cut. Is it any oneder that u c artists that sell a million records filing 4 bankruptcy!
It's easy 2 c y artists r frustrated. Not only do they lose rights 2 their art which they created, but they also lose on the profits being made from their art. Stay 2ned 2 FREEDOM NEWS 4 more info on this industry's trix.
4 more on L. Londell McMillan, check the March 2000 issue of VIBE and the November 1999 issue of The Source.
