LONDON ( 2008-10-04 16:25:45 ) :More than 60 artists, including Radiohead, Robbie Williams and the Kaiser Chiefs announced on Saturday they had banded together to seek more rights over their music and break free of record labels.
The Featured Artists' Coalition (FAC) aims to "give artists the voice they need to argue for greater control over their music," amid new opportunities provided by Internet, the group said in a statement.
"It is time for artists to have a strong collective voice to stand up for their interests," said Brian Message, co-manager of Radiohead and Kate Nash.
"The digital landscape is changing fast and new deals are being struck all the time, but all too often without reference to the people who actually make the music."
Message said the FAC would "help all artists, young and old, well-known or not, drive overdue change through the industry in their interests and those of fans."
Thus far, 61 artists have signed up to the coalition, which will be officially launched on Sunday in the northwest English city of Manchester.
It is fighting for changes to laws that govern business in the music industry so that artists always ultimately own the rights to their music, rather than record labels.
The FAC is also calling for, among other things, artists to receive "fair compensation whenever their business partners receive an economic return from the exploitation of the artists' work."
Several groups have recently used the Internet to promote their music directly to fans, often bypassing record labels entirely, including Radiohead, which launched their latest album "In Rainbows" in October 2007 on the web.
This week, Oasis posted their new album "Dig Out Your Soul" on Internet social networking site MySpace in advance of its commercial release, allowing fans to listen to the whole compilation, but they could not buy it.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2008
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