september 10, 1997
without prejudice
-----------------
this directly from my conversation with Wayne @ GPR this morning
- no editorializing, just the facts - in an effort to address the issues and
concerns posted following my IDM-L message about Luke Slater's _Freek Funk_
album:
"We have an exclusive signed licensing and publishing agreement with luke
slater. an exclusive contract does not mean non-exclusive. it means he records
for OUR company and our company only. as for the contract, i can tell you this:
- where it says artist, it says "Luke Slater - and for the avoidance of all
doubt - all or any pseudonyms and/or aliases." there are actually two separate
contracts, one for Luke Slater and one for Morganistic, on our side-label, Input
Neuron.
Slater is at fault - it's not just NovaMute. but i gave notice via my lawyers to
NovaMute. i tried to telephone [head of Mute Records] Daniel Miller - and he
would not take my call. i got in touch with Pepe (at NovaMute) when i'd heard
rumor that they had signed Slater - and she said that it was true. at which
point i got in touch with my lawyer, who sent a letter to NovaMute/Mute serving
notice that Luke Slater is signed exclusively to GPR. warning them NOT to
release any material by Slater or risk being sued by GPR. NovaMute have totally
ignored me.
Luke Slater knows that HE didn't have the rights to sign with another label -
ANY label. his R&S, Peacefrog, et al.. recordings have ALSO been released under
breach of his GPR contract; but NovaMute went ahead with the deal thinking that
they were clear. when my lawyers contacted them and told them that Luke Slater
was already engaged in a contract with GPR, they simply didn't care!
Luke Slater has done things with people in the past (Jelly Jam/DJaxx,
Peacefrog). but when i first met Luke Slater, he didn't have a signed contract
with any label. i presented him with a deal - which was non-exclusive. but once
the first two Slater albums took off, we were in a position to renegotiate.
the ?10 advance for the first two albums became a ?12.5 advance for the second
Morganistic album. and the contract was revised to be EXCLUSIVE.
when i go to my lawyers and tell them that a record label is trying to poach
artists from me, once they've been served with a notice - they should back off
and not interfere with other people's businesses. a judge will not look kindly
upon such behavior.
if Luke Slater was unhappy with GPR, then he should have sat down with us and
had a meeting, settled all business matters and worked together with us. if i
pay you a ?10 advance, and it takes you over a year to deliver your album, and
even then it's not delivered completed - how the hell am i supposed to release
it? it is true that if a label pays an artist an advance - and the label doesn't
release the album within the timeframe agreed upon - then they lose the advance
and the rights to the album. but if the label CAN'T release the album, then
whose fault is that?! certainly not the record label's!
Luke and i were not completely happy with one of the tracks on his next GPR
album, (which was to be titled _Playing With Fools_) and he asked that we recut
it. he then decided to go ahead with the album as it was. but, three months
later, after listening to test-pressings, he decided that i was right about the
track, after all, and he wanted to change it - the artwork/cover have been done
for over a year. i rebooked the cutting plant, and Luke Slater never showed up.
i really love Luke and his family - and i can forgive him. i don't agree with
the way he has treated me or how he's handled our business. he will not speak to
me because he knows what he did was wrong. i can forgive NovaMute and Peacefrog.
in some sense, it's the ultimate compliment - i've helped Slater to develop
musically and now he has become a star. but NovaMute must be scraping the bottom
of the barrel if they're going around and poaching artists from labels. and
there is now the simple legal truths of their wrongdoings, for which they should
- and WILL - be held responsible.
my lawyers requested - within their legal right - a copy of the Luke Slater
album (the one which he recorded for NovaMute). by law we're allowed to hear the
album before it goes out for release AND we're fully entitled to see NovaMute's
signed contracts with Slater. NovaMute refused to send the contract to my
lawyers (an action which the judge will not see in their favor), and Pepe said
that Luke hadn't actually recorded the album! (this was two or three months
ago). now there's an album and a single, and both NovaMute and Slater continue
to ignore our legal requests. GPR has proceeded to press charges and issue an
injunction against Slater and NovaMute.
i'm not looking for sympathy - this is business. i set this label up because
i've already had my hit records - and i've gotten absolutely shafted by the
labels with which i was personally involved. this is what made me set up General
Productions Recordings when i was 14 - a label established to set a good
example. everyone gets paid, everything is fair. i've tried my damnedest to
bring a bit of honor and humanity, loyalty, trust and decency into this
business. but how can i do this when the artists themselves aren't being honest?
the concept of "do unto others..." seems to have been lost. look, we can expect
music labels - massive major labels and tiny independants alike - to be corrupt
- it's a corrupt business, and it's unfortunately a matter of fact.
but when a label is genuinely honest, does that give the artists the right to
take advantage?! i run GPR right - i can justify every conceivable record
sold/returned and promo-ed, and AFL forms/licenses. the artists who are
unrecouped owe us money - those whose albums have sold have been compensated
fairly, often beyond the amounts in their contracts.
people demand the truth and honesty from me, but then they provide no
reciprocity! dishonesty is uncalled for. if i thought that the only way to make
GPR work was to be corrupt, amoral, and sadistic, i would shut down GPR tomorrow
and get a job at a train station. GPR was created and founded by me. along the
way, working with all these artists, we have achieved something which the music
industry has needed. i can't take 100% of the responsibility for the success of
the label - it's Beaumont and Black Dog and Slater and our other artists who
share the credit - but i WILL take credit for running this label the way a label
SHOULD be run - and for proving that it CAN indeed be done.
i'm a very modest and honest man. but when i care about the business, i really
do care. people are so quick to attack the record labels - but they should look
closer at the (labels') affiliated bodies worldwide. some artists sing a song
today because it suits them and then a different song the next day. [GPR]
believes in supporting solo artists and bands with consistency and something
new/fresh to offer the public. we're not interested in the over-saturated
garbage which too many labels offer. i'm not a philosopher, i'm just a
director - i'm GPR's top man, the guy who runs the label and says 'yes' or 'no'.
i've learned so much about the industry - starting at fourteen and now being
thirty-one. i got cheesed off with being ripped-off by labels so i wanted to do
it myself. while i own GPR, the entire experience has been more akin to an
apprenticeship. i look upon all incidents - even this unfortunate business with
Luke Slater - as a learning experience. it can only strengthen and fortify the
label and provide further incentive to NOT do things the way other labels do.
if you still have concerns or comments, GPR's fax is: 44 0 126 858 1830
- you are welcome to contact me directly.
Wayne/ General Productions Recordings
via
GuerillaG2-G4/ gg
gg2g4ink@sprynet.com