With the growing popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web, record companies are insisting that the artist, at the time of contracting a recording agreement, sign away the rights to their "U.R.L." (uniform resource locator). As if recording agreements were not already one-sided enough, what say does the artist have in this matter? And why is owning a U.R.L so important?

Simply put, a U.R.L. (or "domain") is your electronic address on the World Wide Web. A U.R.L is potentially how millions of people find each other online. If somebody wants to find information on, for example, the group The Def Tones and they do not know the specific U.R.L., they are likely to key in the address www.deftones.com. Because this address (or site) is the first the user will visit, owning the Def Tones U.R.L. is essentially an asset.

The record companies believe that because they invest a substantial amount of time and money into developing their artists and building a "brand name," they are rightfully entitled to owning the domain. But not all artists receive the promotional support they need from their record company. Moreover, when you consider that it's not uncommon for an artist to be signed to more than one record company over the course of their career, it simply does not make sense for the label to own a band's U.R.L.

How exactly does the record company benefit from ownership anyway? They don't ask for advertising dollars from other businesses and display banner ads on their artist's sites. In fact, the artist is actually the one that stands to benefit the most from owning and controlling their U.R.L. Part of an artist's business is in merchandising (such as T-shirts, hats and stickers). The World Wide Web provides enormous potential for sales. Besides, no one can communicate with their fans and provide up to date information better than the band themselves. Can an artist use an alternate U.R.L if necessary? Of course, but as pointed out earlier, it simply is not as valuable.

The issue of U.R.L ownership is really about control for the record companies. The rise of the world wide web as an alternative distribution channel has given some power back to the creators of music-the musicians-and caused the record companies to scramble for every bit of leverage they can get. After all, an artist who controlled their U.R.L could easily offer free downloads of their forthcoming CD on their web site long before their record label's intended release date. The Offspring recently did this. Tom Petty is another example. Though this type of anti-establishment behavior may win over points from the band's fans and boost retail sales from the publicity, it interferes with a record company's marketing strategies and initially pisses-off retailers. Not to mention, it violates an artist's recording agreement with their record company.

By owning an artist's U.R.L, the record companies may perhaps have more control over their artist's potential "rebellious" behavior, but there's nothing stopping an anonymous fan from getting a hold of a band's recording and posting it into cyber space. In I997, a fan in Hungary somehow got a hold of a promotional copy of U2's "Pop" album and posted it on the Web before the scheduled release date. In 1998, another fan jumped the intended release date when he taped an early radio broadcast of Pearl Jam's forthcoming album and made it available for download. Is this activity legal? Of course not, but right now there's no stopping it!

One thing remains certain; recording agreements have never been entirely fair to the artist. The record label's demands for U.R.L ownership is just one more way there not. As in the words of Bruce Herring, author of the book, "Beyond The Charts" and hi-tech entertainment reporter at USA Today:

"Essentially the record deal amounts to a few dollars advanced by the company store. In return, the workers of the industry-the musicians-are giving up any chance of making a living. Instead, they get the slim chance of making a killing. In the real world, that's simply called gambling".

B.Borg c 2000

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