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Music Stars Form Coalition To Balance Power

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edobrien1 Music Stars Form Coalition To Balance Power

The top musicians of the world have united to form the Featured Artists’ Coalition (FAC), a lobby group designed to give greater weight to the artists in industry licensing deals. Revenue from music is being quickly divided up between the major labels and new digital distribution services, and the actual musicians, it seems, are feeling left behind. Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien told the BBC:

“The reason we can do all this, is because the internet and digital technology have changed the landscape in the music industry, which basically means people can now release their music without a middle man, without a record company.”

Artists aren’t consulted in when labels and publishers strike deals with digital partners such as Nokia, Myspace and YouTube. O’Brien states that musicians “need to be in there and we need to be discussing it.” He thinks that “all the major players want to hear what we have to say.”

Alongside O’Brien in command of the FAC is Blur drummer Dave Rowntree, Soul II Soul’s Jazzie B, Billy Bragg, Marillion’s Mark Kelly, hip-hop newcomer Master Shortie and pop star Kate Nash.

Many artists are still tied to contracts, so even if they no longer need a middle man, they can’t sidestep the whole process and go independent. If they could, would they? Besides the rapidly diminishing money that the major labels have, what do musicians actually need from them?

Photo via farm4.static.flickr.com
Source: BBC

COMMENTS

  1. Posted by Jack
    Thursday, April 2, 2009 12:37PM

    Hell yeahh master shortie is super good, his live shows are always jam packed and pumping, probably why he's supporting basement jaxx this month!! crowds will love him..

  2. Posted by hannah
    Thursday, April 9, 2009 7:02PM

    basement jaxx?? thats brilliant news, good to here younger artist getting a break..heard dance like a white boy on the radio the other day was cool as hell, does anyone know where i can download it from cuz i've just resorted to watching the music videos instead for the time being?! x
    http://www.youtube.com/user/mastershortie

  3. Posted by Musicians In Favor Of Pirate Bay
    Tuesday, June 2, 2009 7:18PM

    [...] musician Billy Bragg, who belongs to the Featured Artists Coalition, wrote in an article for the Guardian that “some form of P2P subscription service is the way [...]

  4. Posted by Patrick Wolf Backs Lily Allen Against Illegal Downloading
    Tuesday, September 15, 2009 11:46AM

    [...] unfortunate circumstances other than their music. Now they’re both teaming up to say that the Featured Artists Coalition is being way too leniant on [...]

  5. Posted by Lily Allen To Quit the Music Business?
    Thursday, September 24, 2009 8:04PM

    [...] lashing out at the Featured Artists Coalition and recruiting Patrick Wolfe on her side against leniency toward pirating, Lily Allen has quieted [...]

  6. Posted by Lily Allen Launching Her Own Record Label
    Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:51PM

    [...] Allen is a tricky girl. She says one thing and does another. For instance, she vehemently said the Featured Artists Coalition was too nice about music piracy when she herself had illegal mixtapes on her website. Or how about [...]

  7. Posted by Lily Allen Confirms Break From Music, Dives Into Fashion Business Endeavors
    Wednesday, December 2, 2009 5:45PM

    [...] change in her usual routine is due to her fight with Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien over the Featured Artists Coalition and their attitude over music piracy, but Allen simply told NME that her March 7th gig “the [...]

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