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<DIV><FONT size=4>Pat,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>If you read the article closely, you will see that Verity,
while allegedly promoting gospel [Christian] music, was using exploitive,
decidedly Counter-Christian tactics with its Christian artists.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>W.</FONT></DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=pkraut@moscow.com href="mailto:pkraut@moscow.com">Pat Kraut</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, May 02, 2005 8:33 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] 05-02-05 LA
Times: Gospel Artists Forced toPonderRoot of All Evil</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't understand your purpose in posting this.
Do we know someone in Gospel??</FONT></DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=deco@moscow.com href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">Art Deco</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision 2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, May 02, 2005 7:17
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] 05-02-05 LA
Times: Gospel Artists Forced to PonderRoot of All Evil</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" align=left><A
href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gospel2may02.story">http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gospel2may02.story</A><BR>
<H1>Gospel Artists Forced to Ponder Root of All Evil</H1>
<H2>A lawyer's suit against a Sony BMG record label stirs up questions about
money and mission.</H2>By Charles Duhigg<BR>Times Staff Writer<BR><BR>May 2,
2005<BR><BR>Bestselling songwriter and Pentecostal minister David Frazier
recalls that two years ago, as he sat with one of the most powerful figures
in gospel music, he was told to choose between his lawyer and his
God.<BR><BR>Frazier, now 39 and author of more than 15 songs that went gold
or platinum, was discussing the forthcoming WOW Gospel 2004 compilation
album with executives from <STRONG>Verity Records</STRONG>. Verity's
bestselling WOW series transformed the gospel marketplace in 1998 and fueled
the genre's growth by offering lesser-known artists a shot at exposure they
might otherwise not get on their own.<BR><BR>Frazier's inclusion on previous
WOW compilations had enhanced the songwriter's profile and finances thanks
to the negotiating prowess of his attorney, James L. Walker Jr., who
demanded high-end royalty payments.<BR><BR>But Walker, 36, had also publicly
accused Verity executives of using the WOW albums to bully some of his
clients and others into exploitative contracts. So in 2003, Frazier said,
Verity's president warned him that his songs would be excluded from future
WOW albums if Walker was invited to the bargaining table.<BR><BR>"James had
gotten me great payments because he was aggressive," said Frazier, who wrote
the 2004 gospel hit "I Need You to Survive." "But my first goal is the
ministry of Christ. And as my mama said, 'If you aren't heard, you aren't
doing God's work.' So I found a new lawyer."<BR><BR>That conversation and
others are at the center of a lawsuit filed last month by Walker that has
stirred up controversy not only about the money in gospel but also about its
mission, revealing the fissures in this small corner of the record
business.<BR><BR>In his federal suit, Walker alleges that New York-based
Verity and parent company <STRONG>Sony BMG Music Entertainment</STRONG>
intimidated his clients into firing him and maligned his character,
depriving him of income. Sony BMG and Verity, one of gospel's dominant
labels, declined to comment on Frazier's account or the pending litigation.
<BR><BR>Though some gospel artists and religious leaders praise Walker's
hardball tactics, others dismiss the litigation as an affront to the
spiritual origins of a genre that exalts God's everlasting word above the
almighty dollar. Some also accuse the Stamford, Conn.-based lawyer of
fostering unrealistic expectations among gospel singers and songwriters,
whose music represents only 6% of albums sold in the U.S. about $750
million a year.<BR><BR>"Gospel artists don't want to think about money and
greed," so the industry disdains secular activism, said Frazier, who
consented to a lower rate of compensation on the WOW Gospel 2004 album after
dropping Walker and signing with a new lawyer.<BR><BR>Walker is "a
crusader," said Garrett Johnson, who now represents Frazier and negotiated
his 2004 WOW deal. "But I'm worried he's convincing musicians they have more
power than they really do. A songwriter may be a fantastic talent, but there
are a lot of fantastic talents in gospel. It's better to settle for a
smaller deal than to get barred from ever appearing on WOW."<BR><BR>Music
historians say that Walker's crusade, win or lose, has cast a hot light on
what they say is the exploitation of spiritually driven artists that has
long plagued gospel music.<BR><BR>"For a long time gospel artists saw
performing as almost an act of charity," said Yale University Chaplain Jerry
Streets. "Songwriters didn't even know to ask for publishing rights. Artists
didn't realize labels were profiting from their recordings."<BR><BR>But
musicians began recognizing the economic importance of their work in the
mid-'90s, when Christian music, which includes gospel, began outselling
classical and jazz, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The genre's steady sales
among a core audience prompted major music companies to begin acquiring
smaller gospel labels. Today, three corporations Sony BMG, <STRONG>EMI
Group </STRONG>and <STRONG>Warner Music Group </STRONG>Corp.<STRONG>
</STRONG> dominate sales of recorded religious music of all
sorts.<BR><BR>The major players quickly began producing compilations of the
kind that had scored big in pop and rock. Verity released the first WOW
Gospel in 1998; the 2003 album sold almost 500,000 copies. Last year's
reached No. 1 on the gospel charts.<BR><BR>Many artists crave inclusion on
these compilations because of the albums' exposure and sales. But because no
single artist is essential to the project's success, labels retain
significant power over the terms of participation. In exchange for the
exposure, lesser-known artists frequently compromise on
royalties.<BR><BR>"Those WOW albums are really important," said Roger Helms,
manager of Grammy-winning singer Donnie McClurkin. "They offer smaller
musicians the chance to appear with big names and participate in a
bestseller. There's only a few gospel singers who can make it without being
on WOW, and the labels know that."<BR><BR>Walker represented 15 clients on
the WOW albums between 1999 and 2003 and negotiated top-dollar royalty
payments for each of them, he said. The lawyer has negotiated on behalf of
more than 200 artists appearing on 30 gold and platinum albums, he said.
Industry leaders agree that Walker is one of a handful of attorneys
representing gospel's most successful artists. <BR><BR>In his lawsuit,
Walker alleges that Verity President Max Siegel and other executives two
years ago demanded a cut in royalty payments to the lawyer's clients. After
he refused, Walker said, Verity's executives began telling artists they'd be
barred from WOW albums unless they changed representation.<BR><BR>"This is
the top project in gospel music, so the artists deserve top compensation,"
Walker said. "There's no labor in these albums you just grab the masters,
put them on a CD and it's in the stores the next week. So for Verity to ask
artists to take a cut of $25,000 is just greedy."<BR><BR>Walker said that
after he was dropped by three of his clients, he decided to sue Verity and
the label's president, distributor and parent company. "They're scared of
anyone who stands up to them, so they want to make it impossible for me to
work," he said. "I have to fight back for both me and my artists."<BR><BR>To
press his agenda, Walker in April helped found the Gospel Artists
Progressive Movement, a group whose stated goal is to educate musicians
about copyright law and artists' rights. But even that group, illustrating
the conflicts in the gospel music ranks, has asked the lawyer to withdraw
while his case is pending, questioning the spiritual valor of his methods.
<BR><BR>"The Bible speaks of Christians not suing one another," said Rev.
Robert Lowe of Mount Moriah AME Church in New York and chairman of the
Gospel Artists Progressive Movement. "This is Jesus' music and it is
governed by the rules of God. Our artists have not gotten our fair share,
but the Bible prefers things are decided at a table rather than in the
courtroom."<BR><BR>The religious criticism is particularly risky for Walker.
Unlike hip-hop, whose artists successfully negotiated with record executives
by founding their own independent labels, the gospel industry has
traditionally valued harmony. A Dallas choir came under criticism in 1997
when the group signed with Interscope Records, then distributor of Death
Row's Snoop Doggy Dogg. When Kirk Franklin, one of gospel's few
platinum-selling artists, launched his own label, he did so under the aegis
of Verity's parent, Sony BMG.<BR><BR>Some artists say they are uncomfortable
with their battles' becoming public.<BR><BR>"I don't like talking in the
open about money," said Twinkie Clark of the bestselling Clark Sisters.
Clark, who appears on WOW Gospel 2005, was represented by Walker on projects
that did not involve Verity. "I want to concentrate on talking about the
Word."<BR><BR>Walker's critics say change is already happening within the
industry. As evidence, they point to business conferences administered for
the last 12 years by Rev. Bobby Jones, a musician and Black Entertainment
Television personality.<BR><BR>"Bobby Jones is teaching singers how to fight
for their rights and to lobby," said Richard Manson, a Nashville attorney
who represents Jones and other gospel artists. "The WOW albums are
exploitation in its purest form, but the answers lie in better laws instead
of litigation."<BR><BR>Legislators, however, say there's only so much they
can achieve.<BR><BR>"There's no law that will give artists the backbone to
weather a fight with the record companies," said California State Sen. Kevin
Murray (D-Culver City), an artists' rights advocate and former entertainment
lawyer. "Gospel is where rap was 10 years ago. The artists are
unsophisticated and there aren't a lot of high-powered attorneys, so the
labels can push tough negotiators out. The problem is, some lawyers may be
tough but not very competent. It's hard for clients to tell which one
they've got."<BR><BR>In the meantime, Walker is preparing for the religious
ire of his peers and gambling that his lawsuit will win him power within the
industry.<BR><BR>"The Book of Matthew tells us it is OK to sue," Walker
said. "What I want is an apology. I want public admission that I was
fighting for my clients and Verity was scared so they wanted me out of the
room. When I get that, you'll see everyone line up behind me. Then you'll
see some real change." </DIV><BR clear=all>
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