"Record companies see it as mutiny. Musicians call it an overdue rebellion. Either way, the artists' rights movement has set the stage for combat that could revolutionize the music industry."

Its good to see some big-name artists bringing these issues to light.  Some of their concerns mentioned in the article:

• Placing caps on contract length to allow artists greater flexibility
• Reforming accounting practices which screw the artists.  A good quote from the article describing current practices: "an entrenched system whose prowess and conniving makes Enron look like amateur hour."
• Health and pension benefits so great artists aren't living their last years sick and penniless
• Letting artists own the music, rather than "the bank still own[ing] the house after the mortgage is paid"
• Getting payola out of the music business, thereby making the Clearchannel's of the world a little less powerful

The final paragraph surprised me as well, considering the big-booted, carbon-dated career of Keith Richards and his bandmate:

"We're on the threshold of a whole new system," says Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. "The time where accountants decide what music people hear is coming to an end. Accountants may be good at numbers, but they have terrible taste in music. I don't know how I'm going to get paid, but I'd rather go out into the brave new world than live with dinosaurs that are far too big for their boots."

All-in-all, its good to see the artists trying to reform the system from within.  Because for all the screaming customers do about CD prices, lack of easy digital downloads and such, the artists are the only ones that have a real chance at killing off the middle-man.

[via Slashdot]