One day a group of four men arrived at the office. They were investors and not too happy with how the stock had been performing. This was a time before naked shorting was illegal. They all wore suits and one of the men carried a baseball bat into the office. They all had stereotypical gangster accents. They had a closed door meeting with the CEO that day, baseball bat and all, and I'm pretty sure they got paid that day.
It was one of the most bizarre work experiences in my life. Mafia in the music industry? Yes, yes it is.
Dr. Dre said he saw one sound tech get beat down by six guys because he rewound the tape back too far.
The amount of intimidation, blackmail and extortion many in the rap game talked about was legit. Even in the DMX documentary, the two founders talked about twice strong arming record labels and their owners to let artists they wanted to sign out of their contracts.
It might be illegal now, but certainly not enforced!
The attitude of "they don't catch every criminal, therefore it isn't being enforced" that people take towards financial crimes is silly.
40% of murderers get away with it but no one goes around trying to claim that "murder but by illegal but it certainly isn't enforced".
Over 60% of rapists get away with it. 70% of robbery. 80% of theft. 87% of burglary.
Just because financial crimes (maybe) have a slightly higher rate of "getting away with it" is no reason to make the disingenuous claim that it isn't enforced.
> Our audit disclosed that despite the tremendous amount of attention the practice of naked short selling has generated in recent years, Enforcement has brought very few enforcement actions based on conduct involving abusive or manipulative naked short selling.
> Of approximately 5,000 naked short selling complaints received in the ECC between January 1, 2007 and June 1, 2008, only 123 (approximately 2.5 percent) were forwarded for further investigation.
I guarantee that more 2.5% of murders are investigated. Reg SHO violations remain massively under-investigated still today, to the extent that the SEC is well aware of simple ways to bypass: https://www.sec.gov/about/offices/ocie/options-trading-risk-...
Well, maybe not murder in general, but there is certainly a point where the prohibition is seen as theoretical. Consider BLM.
These videos explain a few of these
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn0gmu_m-os
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxj9rogBPi0
Kpop has become popular because it fills a niche that the western music industry doesn't cater to anymore. Some of it is actually better than the American pop scene. Right now there's no male western pop act with this Kpop idol's level of skill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEKVyfsYnuM
Comparing similar acts shows why Kpop is becoming popular.
Kpop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkwYeEMpTIM
western pop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe6D899cz3c
Every fan of a Kpop artist has a long list of how they have been mistreated and mismanaged, and sometimes these aren't even justified, the fans are being oversensitive. The fans pay for protest trucks to park outside the music company buildings with screens displaying their demands for better treatment.
Both Japan and Korea are notable for their talent development pipeline. Did the West fall behind somehow, or is the market for these types of performances simply not as lucrative in the West? Or maybe it's simply easier/more predictable to manage solo acts?
[1] Places k-pop behind pop, rock, oldies, hip-hop/rap, dance/electronic and indie/alternative.
[1] https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/8531464/k-...
It's a bit dystopic. As much as the old music industry sucks, at least established artists had power.
Example of an established artist with power
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSo9NTb1llI
Really? Prince's right to his own (stage) name? Taylor Swift and the rights to her early albums? And even if we're just talking about royalties, it looks like half of established artists have had lawsuits about labels defrauding them in some way, and the other half seem to have similar issues settled out of court.
Rather, it's a really rough, possibly exploitative gig. They are just like models, but they also sing and dance.
The Music Industry and Hollywood though, they will protect themselves.
We hear more about someone being cancelled for the slightest Tweet than for example Bryan Singer's decades long rapey escapades.
Corey Feldman was literally mocked in public for suggesting that he was abused. By none other than Barbara Walters.
It is a little ironic that you say they're not required to give sexual favours and say right after that they're just like models, another industry where that is very very common.
It's not like 'modelling' or 'acting'.
The bands are run by organized machines.
Hollywood/Music/Modelling are industries of individuals, sometimes coming together for productions, entire segments of the industry never work in classically professional environments.
No, if you are trying to actually protecting someone, you don't end up isolating them nor controlling who they can talk to. Protection would be that the artist decides who she/he talks to and you enforce that. If you make those decisions and expect artist to comply, it is not protection anymore.
I'm not too familiar with the pop side of the music industry. I dipped my toe into the Rap/R&B side of the business building websites for new artists. There were literal gangsters in the recording studios sitting across from me drinking and smoking and they made plans for every aspect of these young girls lives: what and when they could eat, who they could see, where they could travel. They were given an allowance. Sexual favours weren't requested or performed in front of me but it was clear these girls were under control. And by girls I mean 15,16,17.