After three months of heartfelt September 11 benefits, lots of musicians, including Ozzy Osbourne, No Doubt, Korn, Weezer and Elton John, are starting to focus once again on their own financial concerns.
A bunch of successful musicians from a variety of genres have united to organize four simultaneous benefit concerts for the Recording Artists Coalition (RAC), a group that seeks to create more equitable standards for recording musicians.
Billed the Concerts for Artists Rights, the four shows will take place in the greater Los Angeles and Orange County, California, areas on February 26, the night before the 44th annual Grammy Awards.
RAC members scheduled to perform so far are the Eagles, Elton John, Billy Joel, Dixie Chicks, Stevie Nicks and Sheryl Crow at the L.A. Forum; No Doubt, Offspring, and Weezer at the Long Beach Arena; Ozzy Osbourne and Korn at L.A. Sports Arena; and Clint Black, Trisha Yearwood and others at a venue to be determined. Other acts are expected to be added to all of the bills.
In its mission statement, RAC says it raises the flag for the “economic and creative interests of featured recording artists whose interests are not always directly represented by other organizations or the recording industry.” Over the past 18 months, the group has fought to repeal “work for hire” copyright legislation, improve the terms of recording contracts and help musicians attain digital rights compensation for music posted on the Internet.
“A lot of us have different backgrounds musically, but we’re united on issues that affect our livelihoods and the control of our creative works in the rapidly changing world of music and music distribution,” said a RAC spokesperson in a statement. “These concerts will underscore our desire and our right to determine our future as recording artists.”
Tickets for the four RAC benefit concerts will go on sale in mid-January.
