"The Diddy allegations are shocking. Were they also business as usual? - Dominate. Intimidate. Silence. It’s a familiar playbook for powerful men in the music industry. The allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs are a disturbing twist."

Free link: https://wapo.st/3YowXdI

It's one thing to party like a rock star, quite another to party WITH a rock star!

Money is quite the draw, but it's nothing compared to fame. Furthermore, musical artists connect with their work in a way no one else does. That's the power of music, it speaks to your SOUL! So it's cool to hang with an everyday celebrity, quite another to hang with a musician. He or she IS their songs! It's irresistible.

And unlike most businesses, music is one of independent contractors. There is no overlord to fire someone/make them pay/put them out of business. Even worse, the road is notorious for antics, both drug-fueled and sexual. This is WHY many people want to become musicians/rock stars. If you don't know a rock star who's had women throw themselves at them, with no strings attached, you don't know any rock stars.

Not that I'm condoning bad behavior or outright abuse, but I'm being realistic, and only by being so can there be change.

And I don't expect much.

The focus of this article is NDAs. Which are prevalent in the music business. And since there's so much money floating around, the sums can be gigantic. So it becomes like a game show, do you want to maintain your right to sue...which carries long odds, never mind a long time, or take this pot of gold right now?

Most people take the pot of gold. This could be their one and only chance to make this kind of money.

This is human nature. As is sex. The songs are all about sex. People dance and have sex to them. So why do you think sex would be absent when someone is in contact with a musician/rock star?

Do you know anybody who's slept with a famous rock star? If they are not famous themselves, they trade on this story for the rest of their lives. As Letterman would have put it, they consider it "a brush with greatness."

Furthermore, you either make it in music or you don't. You climb the ladder or you don't. And most acts don't have a second act. It's not like regular business, where you lose your job and get another. You're DONE! So if you make it through the gauntlet, not only do you consider yourself a world-beater, you think you're entitled to the PERKS!

As for the non-musicians, those behind the scenes, the businessmen... They hang with the rich and famous all the time, and they model this behavior.

It's a boys club. Period.

How will that change?

Well, the Spotify Top 50 has been infiltrated by women. And the influencer market is dominated by women. And these advances are important.

And if you work for a Fortune 500 company and someone crosses the line, they get fired. Happens all the time. Just today an exec got fired for giving preferential treatment to his girlfriend.

But in music?

These execs are not trained at Harvard's business school. Many don't have degrees at all. And the traditional education route is almost meaningless in music. It's not about book-learning, but hustle. Insight. Anybody can play.

But not anybody can win.

And since contracts are at arm's length, those entering deals with artists look the other way.

Now sponsors... They have clauses in their deals that allow them to terminate their contracts for bad behavior...

But record labels? They make a fortune ON bad behavior!

So what can we hope for as a result of this article?

Less use of NDAs. Corporations could have a policy that they don't issue them.

Then again, these sexual harassment cases are cloudy. In that there's rarely any physical evidence, no video, maybe not even e-mail. So it becomes he-said/she-said, and it's very hard to win in court. So, once again, women take the money.

As for the #MeToo movement that started a few years back... Most men who take it seriously are the type that wouldn't behave badly to begin with. But if you think the events have changed the landscape... To a great degree it's just gone underground. Men still talk the same way with each other, they just don't do so in front of women. And I hate to say it, but amongst men sexual adventures are a constant subject of conversation and conquests are admired and...

They got R. Kelly. And Diddy's incarcerated. So more arrests/convictions are the only thing that will truly scare the music industry straight.

But this requires women to not only not take the money, but to stand up in court, where they're dragged through the mud and labeled sluts, and this can have repercussions for the rest of your life.

But that seems to be the only way out.

In this article you've got Aubrey O'Day refusing to take back her publishing because she'd have to give up her right to speak about events/abuse prior to this return.

It's a sad state of affairs. And as of this writing, I don't see any references to this article in the music trade press. Which is there to service the boys club.

And we had the independent radio investigations of the last century and the end effect was that independent records couldn't get on radio at all.

So sometimes the cure causes unintended effects.

Kudos to the "Post" for researching and printing this article. Because if you shed light on bad behavior in the music business and you're in the music business, you soon won't be. There's a cone of silence. You know not to rat.

That's the way it is.

But this article is a step in the right direction.


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