Knee Deep in Elephant Shit

Knee Deep in Elephant Shit
(The Music Industry's Dirty Little Secret)

"She's getting screwed!" That is the upshot of the email I just received. A friend had discovered a dirty little secret. Her favorite cult artist didn't make a DIME off records released on a major label. And my friend didn't know the half of it.

For an artist to make money off a record, it has to hit recoup: the point at which the record company decides they have recovered their investment producing the record, promoting the artist, company overhead... whatever else THEY feel should be added. (One day I'll tell you a nightmare story about what is happening right now with Amanda Palmer with the miscellanies charges idea.) The only way to get a better contract is to sell millions of records... and who, over the age of sixteen, does that these days?

Touring is almost as bad when it comes to screwing the average artist. Most artists (who aren't self releasing their own record) survive on the sales of merchandise from their website or at their show. If you are buying a CD or downloading through a major record company, most artist see little profit unless they are a major chart act.

This is why Jill Sobule, Aimee Mann, Tori Amos, Ani DiFranco and on and on are leaving record labels behind and starting there own. It isn't vanity -- it is a matter of survival. 

I admit I didn't know this until I started working for Jill. I assumed EVERY artist got a dollar of every CD released or a dime for every song downloaded. Nope. Many artist don't see the money. The selfish divas are not the people on stage. They are the ones sitting behind desks -- frighten that if the secret gets out they will run out of people to screw: the new acts eager to sign on the dotted line, not knowing the game.

When I tell people this, the reaction is always the same; "Why do they put up with it?" I ask Jill Sobule that. I could see in her eyes the thrill of meeting the fans and performing for them as she said, "It's just so much fun!"

It's good to hear that the music industry will soon be in the hands of people like her. The artist and fans are cutting out the middle man. So the next time you hear your favorite artist wants money to put out a record, jump up and down... send them a check -- you may be giving them your money for the first time. Even if you been buying their records for twenty years.