10 Artists That Went Head-To-Head With The Music Industry And WON
The musicians who stuck two fingers up at 'The Man' and got away with it
It seems the record industry lurches from one controversy to another at the moment. Come to think of it, its been going on for over a decade at least since music downloads became such a big part of the industry. Whereas previously labels had total control over all but a tiny number of artists, theyre now under attack from all sides.
So it's no surprise they're somewhat pricky when threatened.
The likes of EMI and Colombia now have to contend with a group of tech savvy musicians who feel they can get their music to a massive audience without lining the pockets of record executives. In the mid-00s all a band needed was a Myspace account and voila, they had millions of potential listeners at their fingertips. Then there was file-sharing websites and streaming services taking a chunk out of the profits.
But even those services have become part of the industry itself, with the likes of Spotify and Apple the gatekeepers to many artists who want to make it big nowadays. Their dominance, however, has recently been challenged by none other than Taylor Swift, who pulled her music from both and contrary to predictions, didnt suffer any consequences. Actually shes on one of the biggest commercial rolls of any artist in the history of pop music right now, to the point where Apple returned to her cap in hand and changed their payment policy.
There's a reason she was top of their suggestions list on launch...
And she's not the only one. There are some more artists who have shown that all of the power doesnt necessarily rest firmly in the hands of record labels over the years.