New Musicians Union
Rock legends Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno plan to launch on Monday a musicians' union to help artists stand their ground in the digital age. From the
BBC News:
bq. The union will be called Mudda, short for "magnificent union of digitally downloading artists".
bq. "The digital environment will change the way music is made, and here artists need a voice", Peter Gabriel told BBC News Online at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
bq. In the age of digital downloads musicians and the music industry have had to find a way of giving consumers what they want while securing revenue streams.
bq. "Some think that we want to cut out parts of the music business, but that's not the case," Gabriel said. He said musicians needed the record industry, because they were "good at making music and not necessarily good at marketing". But musicians should not be the slaves of record companies either, he said.
bq. "We need a model partnership where every artist should have a controlling influence in the whole production process - if they want it."
There are a few of these starting up - it will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years. The music companies have always screwed over their smaller acts - these people seldom make any money.
The times they are a' changin...
Posted by DaveH at January 25, 2004 11:45 AM