LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) — As the music industry rolls out the red carpet for Wednesday’s Grammy Awards, several angry stars hope to grab the spotlight with fund-raisers for a crusade against what they say is unfair record company control of an artist’s career.

The “Concerts for Artist Rights,” will feature performances by stars like Don Henley, Billy Joel and Sheryl Crow on Tuesday, the eve of the Grammys.

These artists have formed a group called the Recording Artist Coalition to lobby Congress and state bodies for major changes in the record industry’s ability to tie musicians to often low-paying, long-term contracts.

The coalition has promoted its concerts with posters of a giant fist clenching a microphone with smaller fists below it, reminiscent of populist imagery of the 1960s.

“We have concerns regarding industry practices and the future of our work,” said Eagles frontman Henley, who has led the group, noting the industry has long had a huge lobbying presence in Washington. “We simply want a place at the table.”

Saying they are pushing for new legislation that would free artists from what they say is “indentured servitude” to record labels, the group wants to repeal an amendment won by the music industry in 1987 that allows record labels to keep artists tied to contracts longer than talent in other sectors.

Reeling from the worst year in album sales in 10 years, the record labels have described the group as spoiled malcontents.

The labels oppose the repeal, saying they conduct their business fairly and that artists benefit from the contracts they sign voluntarily.

Many officials and even independent artists say the amendment has little bearing on any but the biggest acts, since less successful artists are generally written off as bad investments and released from their contracts quickly if they fail to sell enough records.

“It seems to me this movement is a special interest movement,” said Scott Witlin, a labor attorney with the law firm of Proskauer Rose. “The record industry is a hit-driven industry and they invest in dozens if not thousands of artists before they find a Madonna,” he said.

Officials say making profits off a very small group of superstars enables them to stay in business and to sign smaller artists, potentially giving them shots at stardom.

Independent artists also say the movement is not about the little guys.

“The RAC is fighting for good issues, but those issues are unlikely to affect the majority of the grass-roots artists who are out there,” said Brian Austin Whitney, who runs Just Plain Folks, a group of nearly 17,000 mostly independent artists.

“I am not against their platform, but they have their specific agenda and I don’t see any evidence so far that they are fighting for the independent artists who have more basic concerns like retirement and health benefits, access to career development and advancement programs and having a fair royalty payment system and equal access to earnings opportunities on the Internet,” he said.
“Don Henley and Sheryl Crow are doing a great job representing the major label artists’ interests, but that system only accounts for about two percent of all active artists today,” Whitney added.
Henley and the coalition, which numbers about 140 mostly major-label signed artists, say these independent artists are missing the point.
“We’re trying to help everybody,” said Henley. “The young artists need to understand that (repeal) is one of several issues on the table. It is not our entire focus,” he said.