A Box Of Rocks Pt. 05

They reached back and did a couple of Miami Sound Machine songs, which pleased the older audience. Back in the day they had been really huge there. which the crowd ate up. It was the usual four song encore, and they were still screaming half an hour later. It wasn't as difficult as I thought to line up the massage companies, and the usual stars fro the Latin scene wandered around backstage, the guys jamming with every one.

We did an exit interview the next day, did PSAs for the local cancer institutes, and flew home.

Chapter 42

Maddie was getting close, so they stopped touring until after the birth. Mason had been approached by almost everyone, and was turning work down in his studio, picking the ones he thought fit his style and approach to music. He was also getting visits from other independent record companies.

It was all hush hush, but they were trying to form a loose coalition for distribution rights. A studio out of LA was the first on board. The guy was an up and coming star, with an uncanny ability to find new performers. He was the West Coast version of Mason. Then Fifth Avenue of Philadelpia, Sweet Peach out of Atlanta, Gatorbait from Jacksonville, Bowery Records out of New York, St. Louis came on board with Archway Studios, until they had fifteen labels joined together. The governing board was made up mostly of the owners, current and exmusicians that knew how the industry worked and were trying to introduce new practices

The sad fact was the record companies had refined their practice over the decades until contracts were basically involuntary slavery, with the artist having little control of the process and less of the profit. They had their fingers in every aspect of an artist's career, and they rarely kept the needs of the artist to the forefront. The coalition knew there would be a tremendous backlash when the big companies found out the details, and had their lawyers, spearheaded by Gwen, gearing up for the fight.

They made the announcement via social media, all of the record company executives together in the same room. Mason did a lot of the talking, to keep the heat on him as much as possible, but the others wouldn't let him take the fall. The guy from LA ( which stood for Lost Artists) was the most vocal behind Mason, and the guy from Gatorbait was next.

We talked about it during the planning stages, and he looked really depressed. "No matter how it all started, the recording industry is a dirty business. The lead singer of Midnight Oil once did an interview where he said the purpose of the music business as it exists today has one function, to take as much as possible from the performer.

In the early days, some of the contracts mirrored slavery, allowing this but not that, and holding you in breach of contract if you tried to fight it. Then the 360 clause came about, that meant no matter what else you did, like act, for instance, the record company got a percentage.This plan will get a lot of performers out from under their thumbs, and they're not going to tolerate it happening."

As a personal manager, I fought for the very best terms I could get for every performer, and operating under the umbrella of the Box Of Rocks gave me a little clout. It got me a reputation, and they seemed to be lined up out the door, begging me to represent them.

Chapter 43

The backlash was enormous. The big companies did an all out assault, threatening them with lawsuits and denying venues for their artists to perform. Mason laughed at the group of lawyers they sent. "Boys, go back home. Do you think we didn't get our ducks in a row before we started? Tell them we're not bending. Between all of us, we've set up our own distribution network, and Ticketmaster doesn't own all the venues. Besides, for them it's just like for you, it's all about the money. Seven of the top ten acts in the country right now are with us, you don't think it's going to hurt their bottom line when the tour season hits? They'll look at the lost revenue and reach out to us, to make an accord. In the end, it's all about the Benjamins."

Gwen had to hire extra staff just to handle the lawsuits, and she hired the best. Half of them never went to trial, and no one settled at a loss. Of all the rest, only two were in favor of the establishment, for minor financial gain. Gwen calculated that between every action, it was costing them roughly a million a month, and that's not a good return on investments. Then they turned to negotiation, with their artists and with us. Many performers got much better terms on their contracts, but as contracts ran out, one by one, the artists expressed interest in signing with one of us. 360 contracts dropped drastically, to roughly 29% of what they were paying, and most of that went for legitimate expenses that could actually help their careers.

The big companies called a truce, and worked on each member of the coalition, offering them extravagant paydays if they joined them. All but one turned them down, but he was on the edge of bankruptcy and had no choice. Three more studios begged to take their place, and the group accepted all of them.

They tried squeezing Mason, hinting that the venue we'd booked might suddenly become unavailable. He laughed. "Go ahead, but if you do we're going to splatter why over every media outlet we can find. You can also expect to be served with breach of contract papers, and we may get the RICO people to take a closer look. If it comes down to it, we'll do the show from a WalMart parking lot."

That backed them off pretty quick. The last thing these guys wanted was to have the Feds crawling all over them.

I had hired two agents to help me keep up with the new acts clamoring to sign up with me. I interviewed every performer, usually with a full dossier of their life to that point lying on my desk in plain sight. High profile drug use and alcohol consumption, a messy personal life, especially if there were paternity suits floating around, and you never got your foot in the door. If you were locked in with the big labels, you weren't considered until your contracts were fulfilled. Mason explained it best. "We have our own set of standards, and we don't operate like the big guys do. You need to recognize that while a certain artistic ability may have led you to your career, this is a business, and will be operated by business guidelines. You want hookers, drugs, bullshit like that, you'll never make it with us." Then he grinned. "A certain type of water, M&Ms with the green ones picked out, a certain type of sandwich, that we can do."

It made it necessary for me to find office space, so with Mason helping, we built a two story office complex. Gwen rented a suite, housing the branch she opened here, and was there at least once a week. She often had her husband along, and they liked the area, so she was thinking about a home here, to retire when she escaped the Land Of The Fruits And Nuts. I believe the shine of L.A. was rapidly fading.

Between all that, they actually got to make some music. Al's group had the number one album in South American right now. Titty's trio were burning up the charts, as were Zelda and Aaron.

Maddie was in mommy mode right now, doting over her daughter. It made me broody, and I threw hints at Mason. He just twirled me and told me to time it so it happened after the last performance.

Just before we left, I threw away my birth control pills.

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Sorry this chapter took so long, but real life happened. The last two segments will come quickly as possible. Thanks for reading.