No Rock And Roll Fun

NOW, THERE WOULD BE YOUR MIXED MESSAGE: At first glance, the story in the Harrow Times about singer-songwriter Mark Joseph giving a talk to Rooks Heath High School seems to be fairly standard local fayre: he told the kids how he did lots of hard slog to be a DIY popstar, because no record label would support him. So far, so inpsiring.

The curious thing, though, this message of "don't expect a label to support you in your early years, you'll have to support yourself" is part of a tour sponsored by, um, Warner Music's 14th Floor Records, who have now signed Mark up and are paying for him to visit 100 schools nationwide.

Now, with the RIAA/BPI insisting that the high price of music is purely to allow them to fund new artists, isn't it a bit strange their members are underwriting the cost of telling kids to go away and find ways of supporting themselves during the early years?