October 16, 2002
.Joni Mitchell calls music industry a "cesspool"
The
BBC reports that in a recent interview with
Rolling Stone she said that she is "ashamed" of being part of the industry, and goes to far as to say that she may never record again. At least not if it means signing any more contracts with the monsters.
"I just think it's a cesspool," Mitchell said of the music business. "I'll be damned if I'll line their pockets."
"I would never take another deal in the record business, which means I may not record again, or I have to figure out a way to sell over the internet or do something else."
Unbelievable. If a star of her magnitude can't get honest treatment from them, then who can? She also accuses Geffen Records of never paying her any royalties when she was part of that label. They claim, as always, that her advances were always greater than she was owed. But that then leads to the question of the competence of the music management itself: if they can't make money on a Joni Mitchell record, then how good does something have to be before they can? If they weren't making money then why did they keep putting out the records?
I remember years ago when James Garner sued the company that produced "The Rockford Files" for never paying him any royalties. The company claimed that tho the show was on for five years, it never made any money. And Garner wondered why, if that was so, they kept renewing it. Given that it was (and is) pretty much a network policy to cancel any show that doesn't make money.
