Dixie Chicks Sue Sony

The Dixie Chicks, Emily Robison, Martie Seidel, and Natalie Maines Pasdar, have sold nearly 20 million albums that have generated more than $175 million in sales revenue for Sony Music Entertainment. The group contends that Sony engaged in "systematic thievery'' to rob recording artists out of royalty earnings. "We refuse to sit back and silently endorse this behavior simply because this is a 'standard' practice at Sony,'' the Dixie Chicks said in a statement. "This is about people keeping their word.''

Sony begs to differ and this case brings to light yet again the problems with long-term, big money recording deals. Sony had already filed suit against the Dixie Chicks for $100 million for breach of contract, which dealt specifically with five undelivered albums from the group. Sony is suggesting that the suit filed by the Dixie Chicks is essentially a smokescreen, intended to deflect attention from Sony's previously filed complaint.

The bottom line in the entire affair is that recording companies and artists are unlikely to ever agree to the terms of long-term recording deals. The recording companies see a hot commodity, pay a huge sum to own the rights to it, and launch multi-million dollar marketing campaigns to ensure that their investment is successful. The artists see an immediate cash windfall and the power that a big-time marketing push can provide to their music and their message. The problems begin here. Artists don't want to package their creativity into "5 albums over the course of 2 years, guaranteed." The fame generated by the success of the first album often limits their availability and their ambition to make new music. The record companies don't want to see their new product become stale, so they continue to press for new material and rarely receive the same quality. As long as multi-million dollar deals are driving the industry, however, there are always going to be problems.