By Lukas I. Alpert
New York (AP) -- The management of the renowned avant-garde music club the Knitting Factory reached a settlement with artists on its record label after they alleged the label owed them royalties and disposed of unsold CDs.
Knitmedia Inc., which runs the Knitting Factory clubs in New York and Los Angeles and Knitting Factory Records, agreed to pay $1,250 in back royalties to each musician who signed on to the settlement, said David Lennon, president of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians. The company also agreed to return to the approximately 80 artists all rights to their work and the master recordings, he said.
Jared Hoffman, who became president of Knitmedia in mid-2002, said many of the issues in the dispute arose before he became head of the company, and that the settlement did not consitute "an admission of impropriety or wrongdoing."
"Knitting Factory Records has agreed to this settlement solely to avoid protracted and public litigation with a small minority of its artists about issues that occurred prior to the arrival of the current management," he said.
The settlement was reached after several of the musicians who had formed a coalition called Take it to the Bridge in their fight against the company rallied outside the New York club Wednesday night, prompting a sit-down, Lennon said.
He said Knitmedia also has agreed to enter into arbitration with those artists who were not party to the settlement over mechanical royalties dating to Jan. 1, 2000, and to return to them the rights to master recordings.
The label has produced work by a wide variety of artists including Arto Lindsay, Charles Gayle and Gary Lucas.
Marc Ribot, a New York musician who has played regularly at the club but was not involved in the settlement, said the situation underscores the difficulties independent artists face.
"There's a myth that its the little artist-friendly indie David against the corporate label giant. But artists get ripped off by both all the time," he said. "What's unique here is that the artists organized to do something about it, and it was also one of the first times that a major union was supporting them."
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