Story #1: The ugliness of the music business has once again reared its ugly head. Taylor Swift found herself in an even more untenable position than we have previously encountered, after her catalog was sold by her former record label to a wealthy investor Swift absolutely loathes. It was beyond shady for her former label to sell the work of Swift's career to someone they knew she believed would use that power to damage her. To take such an action against an artist who made them so much money was unethical, but expected. Also expected was Swift's announcement that she would be re-recording most of her prior albums as soon as she's legally allowed to, to cut into the value of her catalog's sale. What wasn't expected is what just happened.
Although the matter has been settled
for the moment, let's look at what we were facing. Under the original
scenario, Taylor Swift would have no longer been allowed to play her
own songs, the songs that she herself created, on television because
someone who wrote a check doesn't want her to. I won't be using his
name, since all he deserves is derision.
Here's the situation; the investor is
taking the position that playing a song live on tv constitutes a
re-recording of the song, and Swift isn't allowed to do that legally
until sometime next year. I don't know if there is a technical legal
point buried somewhere in copyright law to explain this, but I can
talk about it on an ethical level; this is cruel, vindictive
bullshit. As Swift herself said, they "are exercising tyrannical
control over someone who just wants to play the music she wrote",
and "the message being sent to me is very clear. Basically, be a
good little girl and shut up".
As tasteless as the decision to strip
an artist of the rights to her own work is, there's another dimension
to this story that needs to be addressed. Taylor Swift is as rich and
powerful as any modern artist, and even she doesn't have the clout to
stop a rich man from believing he can control every facet of a
woman's life. This 'man' has done nothing to deserve a say. All he
did was put up a pile of money to buy the blood, sweat, and tears of
another person. He is a vulture, pecking away at the very idea of
artistic integrity, completely oblivious to his sense of entitlement.
It is very clear he believes that because he has money, Taylor Swift
should be under his thumb. She should be grateful someone wanted to
buy her career out from under her.
Of course, none of that is true. This
pathetic weasel is yet another data point showing how money corrupts,
and the rich feel no shame about anything. The truly disgusting look
of how a man telling a woman how she can perform her own songs is so
retrograde it makes me wonder if his next act will be to try to
extort her to vote for Donald Trump in return for some relief. It's
already bad enough that he has reportedly offered Swift the ability
to put her own music in a documentary about her, only if she promises
not to re-record those songs and lessen the value of his investment.
That's not going to happen. I can tell you that.
But what does this say about the music
industry? Like other businesses, it was set up generations ago by
sleazy people who took a mob mentality to the exploitation of
workers. Music is a trickle-up business, and the people who find
money falling into their laps for doing nothing are deeply
uncomfortable with artists not only wanting, but demanding to control
their own careers. The single most important thing an artist can do
is own their own music, and thanks to Taylor Swift's very public
fight, I feel we might be heading in a direction where the next
generation is no longer willing to play by the rules. Thank you,
Taylor.
Story #2: Ugh. Here we go again. Motley Crue is
one of the few bands that have handled their old age well, and they
are now hinting that any good will they have accumulated will soon be
flushed down the toilet. Their official Twitter account shared a
petition started by a fan calling for the band to return to the road.
That was followed days later by a report that a tour has been put
together where Motley Crue, Def Leppard, and Poison will head out on
the rod in 2020.
Let's remember that Motley Crue signed
a "cessation of touring" contract that meant the end of the
band's time on the road. But now that more bands are on the reunion
bandwagon, now including The Black Crowes, Motley Crue is testing the
waters to break their word, become hypocrites, and have their lies
suck more money out of the poor unfortunate bastards who like their
music. Please tell me we are getting to the point of treating rock
stars the same way we do politicians, assuming they are lying every
time they open their mouths.
But could we really have expected
anything more from a band that is most famous for their singer
killing a man by driving drunk, and their drummer's penis? I had
hoped that thirty years of growth and learning would have put us in a
different place, but that sadly doesn't seem to be the case. We
should not be welcoming back Motley Crue. We should not have
swallowed the PR campaign their recent bio-pic was either. Motley
Crue were a band of bad people who did a lot of bad things, and
rewarding that decade of deplorable behavior by propping them up now
that they have nothing else sends the wrong message.
The 80s glam/hair metal scene needs to
be reckoned with. The rampant drug and alcohol abuse, and the
marginalization of women into nothing but sex objects, cannot be
ignored in a cloud of nostalgia. Those were ugly times that produced
some ugly music, and we're better than falling back into that
quagmire. When Motley Crue ended, it was the right time. Mick Mars
can barely get to the stage anymore, Vince Neil's voice is shot, and
the band is the concert version of Viagra for their fans of a certain
age. There is no compelling reason for them to ever play another
show, let alone to break a promise they rubbed in the face of other
bands who couldn't live by their word.
So let's tell Motley Crue what's what.
Have some integrity and keep themselves on the sidelines, where they
belong. We don't need to see middle-aged men singing about "Girls,
Girls, Girls" anymore. "Dr. Feelgood" is closer to
being their hospice care-giver than their drug dealer. We need to
make sure their career stays in the grave.
But not everyone agrees. Former Skid
Row drummer Phil Varone crawled out of obscurity to weigh in, saying
both “My 3 Cents: If you're angry that a band is going to tour,
even after a farewell tour, then you're not a fan,” and “The
only betrayal I see is from the so-called fans talking shit about the
band. For that, shame on you."
This perfectly illustrates the
entitlement that many people in entertainment fields feel. Varone
completely dismisses the issues of the band going back on their word
as nothing. The fact that people paid huge sums of money to see what
was billed as the last time Motley Crue would ever play live is just
money out of their wallet, so who cares? The band showing no remorse
whatsoever for lying to their fans, flaunting their moral
superiority, and now kicking the fans when they're down? That's
right, we're supposed to be grateful that the band cared enough to
lie to us in the first place.
Sorry, Varone, but we don't owe bands
anything. They don't owe us either, so let's be clear about that. It
is not a betrayal for us the fans to not like what a band is doing.
It is not a betrayal for us the fans not to shell out money for every
product a band puts out. It is not a betrayal for us to hold bands
accountable when they insult us. Being a rock star doesn't entitle
you to anything. Bands have to earn our good will every step of the
way. The relationship between band and fan is not one where we are on
a leash, obediently doing whatever is asked of us. We have minds of
our own, and not all of us are going to be like Varone, happy to get
kicked in the balls just so we can feel another human's touch. There
are delusional ways of rationalizing just about anything. I'm not
going to do it, and I would encourage everyone else to follow suit.
These bands like Motley Crue, and
people like Phil Varone, don't give a damn about us. Let's not give a
damn about them.
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