Label:Life

‘Now it’s likely major label Universal will lower the sticker price of their CD’s to 10 dollars for upcoming holiday season sales, it’s time indies unite and create an offer the public can’t refuse,’ says Commuse co-founder & Red to Violet guitarist Onno Lakeman.

That’s why Commuse launches the INDIE HOT 100, offering quality independent releases to the music fans for only 5.99 online ex postage. A hot 100 links page of different indie artists, on a indie label or not.

Are you an indie and do you want to join this free for all initiative?

[more @ mi2n.com]

A recent bill introduced to the House Judiciary subcommittee, (H.R. 2517, sponsored by Representative Lamar Smith, R-TX) would allow the Federal Bureau of Investigations to monitor those composers and record producers who use elements acquired on the Internet in their music recordings.

The bill suggests that because material protected by copyright is so easily obtainable over the Internet, there needs to be a way to monitor the distribution of content that may end up being infringed upon. Smith’s bill would allow the FBI to investigate and “deter” the use of this material. It’s presumed that this “monitoring” would lead to arrests.

[more @ www.musicdish.com]

Two years ago, in a pre-litigation move,(Courtney) Love circulated a well-known letter to fellow recording artists about a “fair deal” from the record labels. In her letter she cited TLC and Toni Braxton as “multi-platinum artists” who had “been forced to declare bankruptcy because their recording contracts didn’t pay them enough.” (Love’s trial comes at an interesting time: June is Black Music Month.)

TLC sold millions of albums for LaFace Records (a unit of Bertelsmann Music Group). Yet Lopes, Tionne Watkins, and Rozonda Thomas were only taking home modest sums of money compared to the hefty sums they made for Pebbitone Management, LaFace, and BMG. Federal bankruptcy laws would have allowed them to extricate themselves from their onerous contract, but they settled out of court. The recording industry, however, nervous at the prospect of other artists using TLC’s and Braxton’s settlement strategy,had the federal bankruptcy laws amended.
[more @ www.villagevoice.com]