This Just Makes Me Angry

Zappa said the record company he once signed a contract with (but never again) wanted him to re record 'The Tracks Of My Tears' ! Can you imagine Frank Zappa singing that ?

shame

great vid Mary

Probably the parents signed the contract. In Germany you cannot sign a contract like this if you are under 18. This sounds more like "modern" slavery.

Mental Illness is the most ignored sickness there is.

This made heavy reading, although it shouldn't because this part of it I believe has always been there: 'It's that fucked up and the music industry itself should be ashamed of itself because it prides itself as being at the forefront of culture and being so fucking cool and yet it's said nothing about the Me Too movement. It's had zero response. It's put nothing into practice' - Kate Nash.
For as long as I can remember; the music industry has remained largely non-accountable for pretty much everything, other than squeezing money out of artists in anywhich way or form...

You brilliantly clarified an appalling (child abuse) situation! It has to change and all this shit music industry labels get away with should be illegal. As you so clearly highlighted; in any other business model it WOULD be highly illegal.

5.5k upvotes and zero downvotes. Says it all.

Great video Mary! ❤

What a terrible story

This reminds me of the old Gentlemen’s agreement in baseball back in the day. Players were not much more than a slave to the owners. Same thing in the music industry. Support Independent Artist. By purchasing CD’s or LP’s. Support Mary.

That's the pimp industry.

indentured musical servant , I thought those days were over , Jackie Wilson is rolling over in his grave , don't sign a lopsided contract

Great rant; but for me it’s not just about young people, yes it’s a lot worse with young people but it’s shocking adults as well. The labels take advantage of and manipulate so many people who can’t understand all the language they use to bamboozle you with these complex contracts.

Or why I still won't talk to major labels. Or trust the online distributors.

Not paranoid: the music industry is just bereft of ethical values.

This is the so called freedom of the "American Way of Life". Abuse of children by companies, no regulations for the profit making industries, and all that will get worse when tech billionairs are allowed to influence politics to further maximise their profits and reduce what little regulations there might exist for companies to not take advantage of the people working for them, to not polute the environment and to not waste valuable resources. But the voters do want this in the US. Do they really know what their voting for? I doubt it. Glad to live in Germany and glad that Europe will make itself more independent of the US influence in the future.

Involving children in the music industry is deeply problematic and should be considered criminal for many reasons. Numerous TV shows expose children to significant risks — financial exploitation, psychological harm, and, tragically, even sexual abuse. Laws exist to prevent underage labor, so why are children allowed to work in the music industry? This practice is not only unethical but outright unacceptable.

Apart from a pitch for BMG end of the 80s that thankfully went nowhere. I remember, after already working as a product mgr for a big telco, that I was already producing my own band. Had pressed CDs, fully designed, the first one released via CD Baby. Was at a hard rock indoor music festival where indie rock labels where present. Introduced myself, trying to pitch my new CD. SUPER interested. Until... they understood, I am ready willing and able to read contracts and all the legal stuff, maybe even better then they are. The look I got... talks were stopped immediately, ha ha. That just proofed to me, that self-releases are the best thing to do. Cover your expenses, and if you make some money, good.

Buy physical media. go to live shows, buy merch.

..By the way, Mary. Do you have a video about how to - step wise - secure all your music rights when putting it out there via spotify and such as an independent (bed room) artist?

It boggles me how artists still haven't formed their own union type organisation to distribute their music in a fair way.

Thanks Mary, well spoken. There is no way anyone with a bit of financial and business sense would fall for the contractual obligation that are posited as "standard" in the very profitable music industry. All we can do is to assist people that might fall for such a contractual business scam and make them aware and hopefully less naive. The whole idea and phrasing of "investing in" an artist should raise the alarm bells and red flags of a scam being proposed.

I am very impressed in how you manage your own career as a business and at the same time stay creative and productive making more awesome music. You are a great example for what is possible. As far as I can see, you are slowly and steady building a solid financial foundation. Hopefully in the not to long term towards a complete financial independence, kudos to you for that.

well said.

though I wouldn't just call it "weird", but also coercive, manipulative, psychologically and emotionally abusive, as well as predatory and several other unsavory terms which I'll simply leave off... in some jurisdictions we have made predatory lending, indentured servitude, and abuse of power — especially in the context of an employer-employee relationship — not only prohibited but also punishable by law. how are the circumstances which you described any different? they are not.

these so-called investors are not just skirting the law but utilizing their power, money, and influence to ensure that the laws which apply in other scenarios do not apply to circumstances, if not circumventing and negating the actual Rule of Law to ensure, even if their activities were illegal, that it would not apply to them at all. that's exactly how Sean Combs has avoided any repercussions for his appalling abuses. the pernicious business practices of these major labels are no less of an offense, except that instead of violating and enslaving the corporeal being of their victims they rape and hegemonize the victims' futures while extracting their labour, creativity, suffering, joy, and humanity that goes into the creative process for economic gain in an orgy of plunder and debasement.

BLESS UP.
TEAR DOWN.
KEEP GOING>>

Exploitation.

workin' for Diddy until I'm fiddy

Great video even though it was disgusting and depressing. It seems like the music industry behaves like a parasitic organism. Something to avoid like the plague.

Sounds like Modern slavery. Involving a minor. 'Legitimized' by a corporation.
Disgusting.
Thanks for raising awareness.

Spot on, dirty business, and we all know it!

Well put across, I’m an old man now an have been listening to pop music since I was a young boy nearly all these years there have been sad tales of exploitation, unhappiness, untimely death etc…I watched the Midas Man a film about Brian Epstein, the Beatles and many other associated ‘Merseybeat’ bands Including Cilla Black…things change but seem to remain the same 😢
Although Epstein seemed to be a manager dedicated to his clients and he more or less gave his life to / for their success 😢.
Well done you for shining an informed light on the way talented young and not so young anymore people are treated.

Why sign such a contract? Her Patents must have.

2 words: "Indentured Servitude". Whoever wrote such contracts belongs in jail.

An 80/20 contract?
That sounds like a Mafia deal.
When asked about advice, Frank Zappa always said "Whatever you do. Always keep your publishing"
And BTW. Isn't it illegal to bind a minor to a legal contract?

During the Napster wars, Janis Ian wrote a very good article entitled "The Internet Debacle," which basically said the labels weren't defending artists, they were just protecting profits.
It's available online and well worth a read.

And she doesn't own her masters!

Wow!

It's saddening.

SHARED.

There should be massive reparations paid by streaming services to musicians, and data-selling corporations to literally everyone, becasue they have been leeching off us all for years now and generating huge profits from our work and our details while we live in poverty.

Aren't there agents who can help handle this stuff? Also, I took a course in Business Law at Houston Community College in 1989 and they said minors could not be held to contractual obligations, though they could enforce contractual obligations on adults. Does this not apply everywhere?

you are so nice. calling that WEIRED....just weired. calling it else would endanger your business on here... its also weired. cheers, your best vid in a longtime.

The music business is like any other business. To generate profit from product. If your aim is fame, then you'll sign anything from a major label. If your goal is money, then own your own music. If you're playing for pleasure, then none of this matters.
The joy of music 🎶 is in the playing and the listening.

This is wrong on so many levels, it borderlines on abuse, both on contractual terms and personal. I was offered a contract with a band I was in years ( ok decades ) ago and reading ( and having someone way more knowledgeable than we were in those things, including maths ) the terms, we passed. If we hadn't I have no doubt we'd all be in a pit of debt to the label. To this day, I believe independence is the way to go for artists, especially in this day and age. The documentary "Artifact" has a whole section detailing how labels screw their artists, and is basically the story of how 30 Seconds to Mars had to fight their label for months and ended up in a legal litigation to make things kind of right. Blood suckers, all ( ok, "most" ) of them.

Thank you for bringing this issue forward, Mary! It is despicable that the music industry makes so much money and the people with the actual talent are not being fairly paid. The industry needs a major shakeup! All the best to you Mary!

Agree with you Mary. It's almost like a "scam" system. I know it's easy for me to say, I'm not a professional musician, but I guess I would say, don't sign a contract like that. Better to be poor and independent, than poor and a prisoner

This is like profits for This Is Spinal Tap. Because of Hollywood bookkeeping, the creators didn't get profits from the movie until 2020, 36 years after it came out

Good points well expressed Mary

Thanks Mary! I had my fair share of BS back in the 90s and stayed independent and I'm recording artist and working musician ever since.