Big music companies: The real reason artists don’t get paid

The RIAA keeps claiming that artists are being kept in poverty by greedy radio stations who don’t pay for play, even though radio play is the industry’s top promotional tool, and bittorrent thieves. Outside of the “A” listers, very few artists have been paid much of anything by the big music companies who distribute their work.  Lyle Lovette provides a fine example of how even a top selling artist can come up short when dealing with the labels. Most would consider a 4.6 million album seller and “A” list performer who is treated well by big music, but even “A” listers come out empty handed in many cases.

 Lyle Lovett says he has “never made a dime” from album sales during his two-decade career, and hopes to rectify that situation when his contract expires. The eclectic country singer has two more albums on his deal with Curb/Universal, his home since 1985, and figures the horizons are wide open.

“The possibilities are very exciting, I think,” Lovett told Billboard.com. “I’ve never made a dime from a record sale in the history of my record deal. I’ve been very happy with my sales, and certainly my audience has been very supportive. I make a living going out and playing shows.”

Lovett, 50, has sold 4.6 million albums in the United States since 1991, the year when SoundScan sales data were introduced. His most recent release, “It’s Not Big It’s Large,” has sold about 145,000 copies since debuting at a career-best No. 18 on the Billboard 200 last September, according to Nielsen SoundScan. (Yahoo)

Lyle Lovette’s case is not new or unique. The RIAA’s public parading of indigent artists in their golden years to push ever more draconian copyright laws is a ruse to keep attention away from its members business practices. By in large, big music, not the consumer is most to blame for the lack of payment to artists for recordings. This has been case since the industry began.

Since the invention of magnetic tape, a small number of individuals have copied and exchanged music, and the music industry has blamed them for artist’s poverty. Do you have an obligation to pay for music you hold a copy of? Yes, unless the artist freely offers it without payment. However, if you paid for a copy of the artists work, you should be able to move it to and play it on any device you like without the need to buy a new copy for each device.

The music industry needs to start paying artists fairly before blaming piracy for their plight. Unfortunately, an unchecked parasite will kill its own host before curbing it’s appetite. If big music continues operates like a parasite, it will be responsible for its own demise.