One is the recording label's EMI, sort of the most screwed-up label out there.

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It will also have the opportunity to chalk up a lot of its acquisition price to "goodwill" rather than to recording label contracts and movie deals.

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After hearing her third recording, the label decided not to release it.

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The rise and fall of Napster, the dawn of digital, and the ubiquity of high-standard equipment that allows artists to produce without relying on an established (and expensive) recording studio or major label backing, have led to a revolution in the industry in just a few short decades.

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When most artists sign record deals, they hand over these rights in exchange for an advance payment, a smaller royalty of 10-15% on music sales and the prestige of recording an album for a major record label.

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Originally from Chicago, "Little Ann" Bridgeforth showed promise early on, recording a single for the Ric-Tic label in 1969.

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"Stax, being that it's a legendary soul label, the whole process of recording the album in itself was smooth sailing, " James says.

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"If you go in and take something that doesn't belong to you, it's stealing, " says Richard Busch, attorney for Bridgeport Music, the Detroit label that sued over the NWA recording.

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Zelnick also settled a lawsuit he filed against Calder, who runs 20% BMG-owned Zomba Recording, for yanking the red-hot group 'N Sync away from BMG's RCA label.

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When I ask him about it, Fiasco smiles and proceeds to speak of the artistic freedom the label afforded him with Food and Liquor 2, and how different the process was from that of recording and releasing Lasers.

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