10 votes

How a NYTimes reporter, Ian Urbina, collects royalties from hundreds of musicians via the Outlaw Ocean Music Project

7 comments

  1. cfabbro
    (edited )
    Link
    If this is true, that all the artist's involved in the Outlaw Ocean Music Project were misled, and have essentially been scammed out of their fair share of royalties (by a company owned by...

    If this is true, that all the artist's involved in the Outlaw Ocean Music Project were misled, and have essentially been scammed out of their fair share of royalties (by a company owned by Urbina's wife), that is remarkably disappointing to hear... Especially since the Outlaw Ocean Project itself, and Urbina's investigative reporting efforts (the latest of which I even submitted to Tildes just the other day), are both incredibly important.

    And the fact that he now seems to be attempting to repeat the same scam with the Noam Chomsky Music Project (which Chomsky has no association with, AFAICT) is troubling as well.

    7 votes
  2. [3]
    balooga
    Link
    It just baffles me to see a reputable, NYT-affiliated investigative journalist who is literally putting his life on the line to expose international human rights abuses, also allegedly defrauding...

    It just baffles me to see a reputable, NYT-affiliated investigative journalist who is literally putting his life on the line to expose international human rights abuses, also allegedly defrauding artists for personal gain. It's impossible to know for sure but my cocktail napkin math suggests he would be pulling in ~$100k annually from this scheme. I'd be very interested to hear his side of the story.

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      cfabbro
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      IKR? And worst of all, it looks like he even used his official urbina@nytimes.com email address when soliciting many of the artists, so if this all blows up in his face I doubt the NYTimes is...

      IKR? And worst of all, it looks like he even used his official urbina‍@‍nytimes.com email address when soliciting many of the artists, so if this all blows up in his face I doubt the NYTimes is going to be happy with him. And depending on how bad this ends up being, it may even totally ruin his chances of getting hired by any other publications, which would be a damn shame considering the importance of his reporting.

      Why he would risk his career and reputation over something like this, I really don't understand. Especially when all he had to do to avoid any of this happening was to pay the artists the promised 50% royalties for their music, and not the <2% they received after subtracting all the bullshit "promotional fees". And that probably still would have made him a decent amount of money too, for barely any work on his or his wife's company's part.

      2 votes
      1. Nivlak
        Link Parent
        “Why he would risk his career and reputation over something like this, I really don't understand.” Clout is one hell of a drug.

        “Why he would risk his career and reputation over something like this, I really don't understand.”

        Clout is one hell of a drug.

        2 votes
  3. [2]
    0d_billie
    Link
    Well this is gross. It's also emblematic of a sort of endemic problem in the music industry, at least on the level I experience it at. I don't earn any royalties from my music, but I do frequently...

    Well this is gross. It's also emblematic of a sort of endemic problem in the music industry, at least on the level I experience it at. I don't earn any royalties from my music, but I do frequently have to turn down gigs which on the face of it are good opportunities, maybe with a large, new audience to play to, but that won't pay us. Often these organisers act like they're doing us a favour, and that by getting eyeballs on us (which is by no means guaranteed) we are actually getting something more valuable than money: exposure. Growing your audience can be incredibly valuable, but I can't pay rent with the promise of future fans. This is massively exacerbated by two things: that plenty of perfectly competent musicians are willing to work for free (either out of expectation of long term gain, or just a lack of need); and that some promoters/organisers genuinely believe that they aren't exploiting people's time and effort, and are doing the hardest part of the job ("you don't have to do the hard work of organising a show, bringing in punters, running the bar, taking ticket money. You just turn up and play!).
    Again, what this fellow is doing is gross and unfair. But it's sadly nothing new.

    5 votes
    1. cfabbro
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Web designers also often get lots of those "exposure" in lieu of payment offers too. My favorite response: Fuck You, Pay Me (not really, but in my head it's what I'm thinking)

      Web designers also often get lots of those "exposure" in lieu of payment offers too. My favorite response:
      Fuck You, Pay Me (not really, but in my head it's what I'm thinking)

      2 votes
  4. 3d12
    Link
    Thanks for linking this, cfabbro. For anyone who's not familiar, Benn Jordan makes amazing electronic music under the name The Flashbulb, and his channel is packed full of awesome gear reviews and...

    Thanks for linking this, cfabbro. For anyone who's not familiar, Benn Jordan makes amazing electronic music under the name The Flashbulb, and his channel is packed full of awesome gear reviews and informational videos. Would highly recommend checking him out if you enjoyed this video.

    1 vote