If you're a Teen Urban Market Artist, you'll be interested in this. It'll also appeal to those cynics among you who're starting to worry that the 'M' in Music stands for Money and Marketing.

Here's how it works:

"The deal ... calls for urban material with cross platform, marketing, publicity and promotion efforts as well as a completely unique and unprecedented royalty structure for a new 'Teen' Urban Market Artist."

This refers to what, we're assured, has been, "termed by Urban music industry insiders as a 'ground-breaking' Deal" involving a 14-year-old "neophyte singer, writer, producer" named Courtney.

So who's Courtney, love?

Well, she's "agreed to terms with 2KSounds/EMI" and is also a, "Los Angeles native (by way of Colorado Springs, Colorado)" who by, "Combining pop, hip-hop and street rhythms" is currently, "prepping for her Spring 2004 release and accompanying tour".

She's also, "fielding several offers for film and television roles in conjucntion [sic] with her recording career" and apparently, "the number of major corporations that have contacted us about sponsorships, endorsements and co-op marketing ventures for her, is amazing. From major athletic apparel to youth cosmetics to female driven 'tween-ager' apparel".

And as the promo blurb points out, "the list of opportunities is rather impressive in light of the fact that she hasn't released a record yet".

No record? No problem. She's BEEN SIGNED !!! And you can bet she'll look good and move like, well, like a, well ....

But wait! Forget that part of it!

"If your [sic] 12 or 13 you should not be 'baring it and bouncin' it like Britney' or 'Angry like Avril' ... but you still go through the same human emotions and feelings as others ... and her material speaks to those young ladies loud and clear. Perhaps with her ability, great looks and creativity she can help bring the African-American 'Tween-ager' experience to the forefront in terms of marketing, exposure and enlightenment."

So that's OK then.

2KSounds Corporation is a publicly traded company - stock symbol is TWOK (NASDAQ BB) - "distributed by EMI Music Distribution, a division of Capitol Records, Inc. ('EMD'), one of the five major world-wide music companies".)

Hey - hang on! Can Courtney sing? The blurb doesn't say. Doesn't matter anyway because she's now a PTUM (Pubicly Traded Urban Material).

Jon Newton

That's all we need, more sh*tty music. THAT'S why their record sales are down, they keep putting out more of the same fcuking thing.

Oh but wait, this is an african-american girl who's 14. Regardless of race or enthnicity, they'll probably have this little CHILD wearing sexy clothing and finishing off what britney spears had started so long ago. Start off sweet and end up on your hands and knees, not to mention with rug burns and a loose hole. That's where our youth is headed, but I won't keep blabbering on about the feminist move-ment gone

Oh, and I heard the new Britney and Madonna song last night on the radio. Wish I didn't. It was absolutely horrible, it wasn't even a song, I don't recollect every hearing music in it. Take out the music from Justin Timberlake's "cry me a river" leaving those weird effects, adn there's your new Britney and Madonna disaster!

How can you have somebody who has not released an album already fielding offers for product endorsements and movies?

And they say that pop artists are not manufactured.

As is usual the market is trying to tell us who to listen to rather than letting us tell them who we would like to hear.

Kind of reminds me of some old lyrics and i think it was in a stevie wonder song "signed sealed delivered and i'm yours".. it is ok with the riaa that i can still quote lyrics without being sued. flbgt

Agian, this argument isn't that good. You can better believe that the corporations putting money into this girl have heard her sing. This is arguably one of the legitimate purposes of a record company, one that will survive the new paradigm. That is to select the music for others, like a DJ or that friend who always knows what ithe new good thing is.

The broader argument that the music put out by the majors is more reliant on marketimg and promotion combined with the majors control over distribution is very sound. It is also arguably sound to draw the correlation between this centralized control and the decrease in music sales. Centralized control means less diversification which in turn means that if you have success its big. However, the opposite is true as well. If all of your eggs are in the urban teen pop princess basket and she blows, then you are F'd. No pun intended.

well stated raoulduke1. I have some friends from Thailand who are here as exchange students, they play guitar. They also download music to play and sing along to. If you take a look at their collection, it rather goes like this:

50s --- 20 songs
60s --- 15 songs
70s --- 10 songs
80s --- 5 songs
90s --- 5 songs
00s --- 2 songs

They don't care if its Backstreet Boys, Beatles, Temptations. They download the music that to them says "good song" it can be country, rock, hip hop, rap, heavy metal, industrial, its all irrelevant to them. Yet they have barely any music from today, and LOTS of stuff from a long time ago. Meanwhile they have plenty of current Thai and Mandrin songs. Whats that say about CURRENT AMERICAN MAINSTREAM music. Nothing good, thats for sure.

the promotion is using up all the money before it is made.

pigeon-holing the music is not the answer. as you can see by the posting of TheFirstNutzo

Now take a look at my music collection. It contains only three catagories: Classical, Awful and Entertaining. Classical is obvious, Awful contains the results of three people trying to locate the worst song ever written (current record holder is "Hubba hubba Zoot Zoot", closely followed by the "Amy Theme" , while entertaining contains assorted parodies and some music by Leslie Fish, as well as a lot of the music that accomponies Mercedes Lacky books. None of that music was produced for profit, AFAIK. Actually im not sure about some of the ML, I found it while browseing and never bothered to check. Nowhere in that collection is there a single piece by a teen-star, or any talentless pop star.

2k Sounds is bad news. I've seen their contracts and talked to one of their "producers."

They are a prime example of a purportedly indie label that's deep in the RIAA's pocket and an even better example of what's wrong with the music business in toto.

Money comes first; music comes last. The creed -- "You've got to sell a million albums."

Competition has been completely taken of the equation, which means that they can market exactly what they want to on their terms. If marketing sleazy pop stars nets them money, they will do it without the fear of someone coming in a providing a good or healthy alternative.

These corporations are not stupid and they know what sells whether it is porn or boy bands is irrelevant. Our government has allowed huge amoral corporation to essentially dictate what we see and hear without our consent and now we are fighting to get back that control. What we see and hear affects how we behave and think and these pigs are shaping our culture. I do not look forward to the future if this trend is allowed to continue.

Vote on Election Day and vote with your dollar. Boycott for a better future.

The music industry is no longer selling music. They sell an image. The image of what's "cool" or "dope". Britney Spears doesn't sell CD's because little girls like her music, she sells CD's because these little girls want to be just like her. They dress like her, dance like her, (try to) sing like her, and purchase the products she endorses. It's not about the music anymore, it's about selling shit.

Do you think Picasso made royalties off his paintings sold? If these people (that are nothing but corporate whores) have the audacity to call themselves "artists", then they would have no problem with people downloading their music.

Any "music" on an RIAA label is worth downloading. Any music on an independent label is worth buying. Simple.

Kids don't know what music is. It's sickening.

I was in Borders the other day, and noticed a lot of CD's in bargain bins, with the prices reduced to around $ 8.99, with some even lower. My co-worker also noticed similar expanding sales of good CD's at drastically lower prices at other music stores.
So, the boycott is working. Keep it up, people.
These albums were not the traditional candidates for the bins, but were reasonably good selections. I was able to resist temptation, especially after reading about Ms. Sullivan's financial rape/assault at the hands of the poor, hurting, money-strapped riaa. I don't want blood on my hands.
Over the last several days, I have mixed some CD's for myself, which are made up almost exclusively of songs from the 50's through 70's, with a couple of 80's and one 90's selection.
These songs are like a fine wine, compared to the Thunderbird rubbing alcohol of today's riaa, mass-produced, socially engineered and targeted mish-mash.
It used to be that an artist made a good song and the people came [and bought it].
As with so many other aspects of society, the tail is wagging the dog {as in the teenage mutant ninja turtles, which had to be the product of a committee. I can see it : "Well, kids like pizza, other kids like kung-fu. Where can we go from that ?").
Movies are just as bad. Perhaps that is a little bit of sour grapes on my part, since I have been trying to sell my 3 scripts for over a year, and get the standard "you are a nobody, therefore, your ideas have no merit" response.
I am sure the same goes for musicians. Nobody used to care what artists looked like, or what "hood" they came from, and anybody who has not been marketed and subliminally programmed ad-nauseum still doesn't give a rat's behind about Britney or Madonna.
I'm sure that physical attractiveness helped sales a little in the past (Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Madonna, Gloria Estefan, etc.), but does anybody really care when listening (Jimi, Fats Domino, Bonnie Raitt, Steve Miller, Stevie Ray, Johnny Cash, etc.) to a song ?
The Beach Boys used their image, and that was part of their appeal, but the bottom line is that their songs were mostly about having fun and enjoying life. Most of the new stuff I hear on the radio, whenever I try to listen to it, sounds depressing, incredibly boring, or just plain silly.
I want to listen to good musicians and singers. If someone is not talented, good looks and demographics will not cut any ice with me.
Slightly OT : For the record, I like a lot of Madonna's earlier music. I personally stopped listening to her after she studded herself. The idea of using a male for a sperm donor, and raising the resulting child without benefit of it's biological father, is an outrage, and an insult to humanity. Just because something is possible does not mean that it should be done.

The Kid.

When will they learn that I don't care about their crappy music?I've never liked American pop,and I never will.I mean,most of the stuff on the radio today is just complete and utter crap.

There should be tougher laws against children under the age of 18 working like this. No matter how talented this girl is, if she's going to sing, act, promote, etc. then she's going to miss out on a big part of her life. She'll be up at 6am and in bed by 2am.

We'll eventually see her on "Where are they now?" in about five years.

Great, another Britney Spears wannabe, fake assed singer who was molded to what the RIAA wants. They don't get that people are getting sick of listening to crapola. What happened to bands that actually wrote their own songs? I went to a Britney Spears concert only because my friend won free tickets to see her and she totally sucked! I felt like blowing my brains out with a 12- gauge! I wouldn't go see her again or any other contrived act ever again, even if Britney and Christina are giving away free BJ's! Talk about hippocritical, when i see a Britney or Christina video i feel like it's an ad for a porn movie, and the RIAA is claiming that the P2P is all about the porn. Even the lead singer of radiohead said that people are sick of the crap that the RIAA is putting out and that's why they are losing sales.

And speaking of that "Rightous Bit*h" Madonna- Did you know she has produced a Children's book?

BOYCOTT THAT TOO!!! G-r-r-r-r-r-r!

Good debate and points on this thread. raoulduke1 said that the corporations probably have heard her sing. I kind of doubt that.

BS could never sing without the electronic voice enhancement present in all her songs. Same with the latest Disney offering, Hillary Duff. I've heard that "Angry Avril" at least writes alot of her own stuff. (is this true? does anyone know?)

Goffycaca and soundsseeker mentioned that she's being promoted without having done any work yet, and that all the profits are already spent.

Thats what the RIAA would like her to think when the work is done, tour is over, the movies and commercials have ran, and they hand her a bill, which she can of course pay in full by being a lifetime work for hire no rights minion. Poor kid, I feel bad for her. She probably trusted her money grubbing agent mommy. Both of course are clueless about what will happen to them

Someone said that kids today have no taste. WHOA Tex, go easy on the kids. They need time and life experiences to form a background for what is good or bad in music. If any of us were to look critically at the music or movies we watched between 13-17, most was crap, some was OK, and with a little luck some was great and stood up to the test of time.

ive noticed a real change in my 17 year old daughters music taste's and her friends. it was all about the pop crap till about the time i started harping on boycott the riaa and told them whats going on . now i cant keep them out of my old 70's rock and they think its like they discovered it themselves lol. now you hear the pretenders , ccr and they are digging it. if you expose kids to real music they know what they like but with all the crap thats shoved down thier throats they dont know any better . educate and boycott

I truly doubt any corporation has heard this girl sing. It's not about the music... its about the IMAGE. That's why music today sucks! Even back in the late 70's or early 80's the ARTISTS knew that the music executives weren't listening to their music, that they were just tools to make money. How do you think Joe Walsh got away with putting the song I.L.B.T.'s on one of his albums? (Just in case you don't know what that means it stands for I Like Big T*tt*es!) He knew the corporation machine that put out his album didn't waste a moment of time listening to the MUSIC!

The RIAA has just found another stooge that is willing to accept SLAVERY to work for them and they have called in a few favors from fellow conglomerates to promote her. It's downright sickening.

Most "indie" labels are nothing more than hopeful talent scouts for the major labels. They have no desire to actually promote or develop their in house talent. These "indie" labels just want to cash in when the find an artist to exploit who the major label also wants to exploit.

"indie" and "label" rarely belong together as a compound noun.

Most artists would do well to stay away from ANY outside entity that "signs" them to an exclusive contract.

Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy
http://electricgypsy.iuma.com

BTW, anyone seen a picture of her yet? Her image seems to be the most important thing... not the music. Is she a "sexy little hottie?" (RIAA perverts!)

I am so sick of the visual "image" and corporate kiddie porn crap hijacking music. Video really did kill the radio star I guess.

And where is this little girl's mommy and daddy? My guess is they are egging it all on and aiding and abbetting the whole thing. Have you ever seen any of those "talent" kids and family?

This sorta crap wouldn't exist if it were not for the RIAA monopoly.

Just ANOTHER reason to get rid of the RIAA!

how can someone who hasnt seen the inside of a sound booth be preparing for their tour of unknown music? i feel mostly for the" courtney " since the media machine that is her record company will exploit her to its fullest and then cast her away like so many other careers and lives

burner is right about old music. I'm only 23 years old but i've wised up enough to know that older music is genuinely better than most of the new stuff because it's not contrived and fake like most new artists today. Anybody could have their songs written for them and sing them, but how many can write their own lyrics that touch us in a special way because of that artists reflecting upon their own life experiences? Even the doors and Led Zepplin are better than most of the music today. Most of the new artists today should only be called Karoke singers rather than artists because they are just singing what they are told to. Some bands like radiohead and the Dave Mathews Band are commendable because they are actually Artists!! NO MORE BOY BANDS OR AGUILARAS PLEASE!!!

it was ok

a tweenie? you mean one of these...

http://www.noggin.com/shows/tweenies.php

EMI? Lets see what the Sex Pistols have to say:

There's unlimited supply
and there is no reason why
I tell you it was all a frame
they onl1y did it 'cos of fame -
Who? EMI

Too many people had the suss
Too many people support us
An unlimited amount
too many outlets in and out -
Who? EMI

And sir and friends are crucified
a day they wished that we had died
We are an addition
we are ruled by-none
Never ever never

And you thought that we were faking
that we were all just money making
you do not believe we're for real
or you would lose your cheap appeal?

Don't judge a book just by the cover
Unless you cover just another
And blind acceptance is a sign
of stupid fools who stand in line like EMI

Unlimited edition
with an unlimited supply
That was fhe only reason
we alt had to say goodbye

Unlimited supply
EMI there is no reason why
EMI I tell you if was all a frame
EMI they only did it 'cos of fame
EMI I do not need the pressure
EMI I can't stand the useless fools
EMI unlimited supply
EMI Hallo EMl goodbye A & M