The Recording Artists Coalition (RAC), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), the AFL-CIO, the California Federation of Labor, and the Hollywood Entertainment Labor Council met in Sacramento this past Wednesday to rally legislative support for Senator Murray's Senate Bill 1246.

Under current law, recording artists are exempt from Section 2855, Subsection B of California's Labor Code which grants all entertainers and workers in California the right to terminate their personal service contracts after seven years. This exemption came about in 1987 when the RIAA lobbied legislators and were grant an exemption to the then-current labor code. This exemption in effect allow record labels to lock recording artists into agreements for an indefinite time span, holding artists liable for albums still owed to them even after seven years with them.

Senate Bill 1246 contains legislation which would repeal California's unfair labor code and level the playing field for all artists. No longer will recording artists be singled out and discriminated against.

According to Don Henley, RAC President and AFTRA member, "This practice of singling out recording artists is discriminatory and it restricts the basic American philosophy of free market competition."

Senate Bill 1246 has been gaining support from the unlikeliest of organizations, such as labor groups which represent more than 4 million workers in dozens of guilds and unions. But they still face an uphill battle as the Big Five music corporations (Germany's Bertelsmann, Britain's EMI Group, Japan's Sony Corp., U.S.'s AOL/Time Warner Inc., and France's Vivendi Universal) and their lobbying arm, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), adamantly oppose the bill.

Music executives from the Big Five have already contacted Governor Gray Davis asking him to veto the bill, warning that it would force them to stop signing California-based artists.

Write and call Gov. Gray Davis and urge him to support Murray's bill.