many artists were not being paid royalties because record companies lost contact with the performers and had stopped making required payments

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Recording companies agree to pay $50 million in royalties to musicians
NEW YORK (AP) — Major recording companies have agreed to return nearly $50 million US in unclaimed royalties to Sean Combs, Gloria Estefan, Dolly Parton and thousands of more obscure musicians under a settlement announced Tuesday.
A two-year investigation by state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office found that many artists were not being paid royalties because record companies lost contact with the performers and had stopped making required payments.
As a result of the agreement, Spitzer said, new procedures will be adopted to ensure that artists and their descendants receive the compensation they are entitled to.
“Once the recording companies have received royalties, those royalties have to be disbursed to the artists who are owed those funds,” Spitzer said at a news conference announcing the settlement.
“There are many artists who struggle. ... They depend on the stream of royalties,” he added.
The attorney general said about $25 million in royalties has already been paid, with the other $25 million still outstanding.
Spitzer had no explanation when asked how companies could lose contact with such big-name artists.
The participating companies include: Sony Music Entertainment; Sony ATV Music Publishing; Warner Music Group; UMG Recordings; Universal Music; EMI Music Publishing; and BMG Music.
Under the settlement, the music companies agreed to make good-faith efforts to track down artists to whom royalties are due. If the artists still cannot be located, the money will revert to the state.
The settlement could expand to include other recording companies, Spitzer said.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Sean Combs was obscure?

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

whose byline is on that, Huck?

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Just AP, the way I got it.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

hmm, gonna have to call my friend here and ask him who wrote that.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

That article says nothing about Diddy being obscure.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

no it doesn't you're right, but the sentence is kinda awkward, no?

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

“There are many artists who struggle. ... They depend on the stream of royalties,” he added.

This is arguable, to say the least.

xxpost, maybe that's why his record company couldn't find him. They were sending cheques to Sean Combs, and whoever answers his mail kept sending them back "no one here by that name, you must be thinking of the Broadway actor."

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

no it doesn't you're right, but the sentence is kinda awkward, no?

Yeah it is, but I don't know how I'd word it to make it less awkward.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe "lesser-known" in lieu of "more obscure"

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, that would work.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

that's why they pay me the small freelance fees.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm still not clear as to why Dolly, Puffy, Gloria, et al weren't being paid their royalties.
And I wonder how much of the 50 mil belongs to the big names, and how much to the lesser known names who couldn't be found, goshdarnit, so I guess we'll be good samaritans and hold onto that money for them.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm still not clear as to why Dolly, Puffy, Gloria, et al weren't being paid their royalties
They weren't being paid their royalties becuase these companies are massively bloated operations that control(ed) manufacturing, marketing, distribution, promotion, publicity, etc. If you followed any of the much larger corporate scandals of the past few years, you'd see that it was very easy to hide cash in one department while the other one shrugs its shoulders and says "I dunno where the money went". Now that so many of record companies are owned by publicly traded firms, where CEOs are now required to sign off on their accounting, it'll be curious to see if this shit continues.

x-post. Spitzer rules.

the sentence is kinda awkward, no?

No it's not. This would be confusing:
...unclaimed royalties to Sean Combs, Gloria Estefan, Dolly Parton and thousands of other obscure musicians

As it is, its *thousands* of *musicians more obsure than the one named*.

― frankE (frankE), Thursday, 6 May 2004 13:56 (twenty-one years ago)

It's no surprise that money gets lost somewhere along the corporate tree, but I'd expect Puffy, his billion dollar empire and his high-priced lawyers to be on top of this stuff and swarm all over the record companies in a heartbeat, demanding to know where all their money went.
But then again, that's probably how they "found" the 50 million in the first place (it's not specified in the AP story).

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 6 May 2004 14:04 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd expect puffy and his high-priced lawyers to show up at record company offices with guns, bottles, telephones and chairs and just TAKE their goddamned money.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 6 May 2004 14:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Musicians reps (lawyers, accoutants, managers, agents) have many masters. Depending on who is on the top of their pile that day, they will fight hardest for. If Puffy is satisfied not knowing that he's come up, say $500,000 short on his royalties due, both sides know it. They all know they have to work together again on something down the line. It's a total fucking incestuous den of slop. I despise this business almost as much as pharmaceuticals.

― frankE (frankE), Thursday, 6 May 2004 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't say I blame anybody for wanting to lose contact with Puffy Combs :)

― uh (eetface), Thursday, 6 May 2004 14:16 (twenty-one years ago)

frankE: "awkward" != "confusing".

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 6 May 2004 14:19 (twenty-one years ago)

true. i found it neither. let's fight the real enemy. *tears picture of Edgar Bronfman*

― frankE (frankE), Thursday, 6 May 2004 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

(couldn't think of anyone else)

― frankE (frankE), Thursday, 6 May 2004 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

The assumption and practice is that once an artist is paid an advance, Fuck off and die.

Once the AR guy and accountant on the watch when your record comes out have moved on--which happens once every 27 miuntes--your existance ceases to exist unless you sell a certain amount--*which is a predetermined amount, with everything below that going into record/publishing/company ASCAP/BMI interest bearing accounts*.

Of course, if you've got a few thousand bucks, you can maybe get Soundscan to do a search on your sales, maybe, sorta. And then, at about $275 an hour, you can get a lawyer who used to work at the record company who'll spend months to contact the new slime and you might get $14.92 back.

For a possible story, I tried to track down a song I wrote for a major artist. This artist's record company had been assimilated by one of the megacorps. After speaking with endless flacks who exist to keep you from your money, I found one semi-human, who said, basically, 'Wow--that really sucks--but we have no record of this record because of the merger'

Corruption isn't the problem--it's the design. The artists compensated no doubt have good lawyers, and know they can quiet Spitzer for a spell.

Okay--I'm done pissing and moaning.

― Ian G., Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I despise this business almost as much as pharmaceuticals.

ha! my current job to thread. er, no.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Under the settlement, the music companies agreed to make good-faith efforts to track down artists to whom royalties are due. If the artists still cannot be
located, the money will revert to the state.

Who will, in all likelihood, never get around to asking for it.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:11 (twenty-one years ago)

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