Round 3 in Legislative Battle Between Artists, Labels

A fight between recording artists and their music labels continued before the state Senate on Tuesday, offering an inside view of economics and tensions in a troubled industry.

Singer Don Henley of the Eagles and others intent on ending binding long-term contracts in the recording industry battled publicly a third time with entertainment executives who said labor law changes would “make a bad situation worse.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee is a first hurdle for a legislative proposal aiming to overhaul the music business. Votes aren’t expected until May.

A bill by Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City) would force record companies to ban contracts longer than seven years.

The record industry, because of a 1987 amendment to state labor law, is unique in California for the limitless time it can hold workers to a contract.

John Branca, a Los Angeles agent who has represented musical acts including Michael Jackson and Aerosmith, told committee members that the industry holds unfair advantage over young performers.

“Basically, the artist is handed a take-it-or-leave-it contract for up to seven albums with a company where all the executives may turn over during the length of that contract and the company is sold two or three times,” Branca said.

Artists say it frequently takes up to 15 years to turn out the industry-standard seven-album contract.

But executives of a business in which five global corporations control about 80% of the market said they must retain successful performers to cover the losses of many musical acts that fail.

Hilary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Assn. of America, said superstars “want to be able to walk away from the contracts they negotiated, contracts that were negotiated by the most experienced and sophisticated lawyers and agents in the country, and renege on the commitments they made.

“That sounds unfair,” she said, “because it is.”

Murray’s bill must pass this year and be signed by the governor to become law. Gov. Gray Davis has not indicated a position.