Pop stars fight back

It’s looking tough for many firms at the moment. But the credit crunch isn’t responsible for all woes. It’s now a year or more since the business blog ran a series of pieces about the financial crisis in the record industry – desperately struggling at a time in which the music business as a whole is thriving. (Look at the box office records for advance ticket sales for High School Musical 3).

Now some UK pop and rock stars are taking action to try to gain ownership and control of their work from record labels by signing up to a new pressure group, the Featured Artists’ Coalition.

There has been a significant shift in power in the music industry in the digital age, with big names seeing their options multiply after a string of stars shunned traditional record contracts and found new ways of releasing music. Radiohead famously released their last album, In Rainbows, through their own website, illustrating how established acts could thrive without a record deal. Other artists, from McFly to Madonna, have left major labels to release their music through newspapers or live music companies.

The whole industry is still reeling from the collapse in sales of their traditional product – the CD. High street names like HMV, the artists and record companies are all taking a serious hit (sorry about the pun).

Many acts also feel that they have been ignored when their record labels and music publishers have struck new digital deals. According to the BBC, the Featured Artists’ Coalition’s main demands include allowing musicians to keep the copyright to their own music, which could then be leased to record companies.

It wants artists to keep the rights to the music they create and to have a greater say in how their songs are sold - and a bigger slice of the takings. At the moment, record labels normally own the rights to the music their artists make. The coalition also wants its members to be consulted more fully on how their music is used, the ways it is sold and who gets the money.

The Featured Artists Coalition is also intending to speak up for artists’ rights in high-profile issues in the music industry. It wants changes to copyright law and for the rights of performers to be brought in line with those of songwriters. At the moment, when a song is played in a TV advert, on US radio or in a film, its authors are paid but the performers are not.