Janis Ian Groks The Net

NMC/Radio and Records eChart main column as published in the 9/6/02 issue of R&R On Janis Ian's website, her feelings about her career, the music industry, Napster and copyright all bubbled over when she wrote an opinion piece about artists rights. Her original piece and the followup after a storm of controversy are at http://janisian.com. She never thought it would be as widely read as it was.

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"I was just writing on my little web site, for a small magazine for songwriters, Performing Songwriters, and it kinda got out of hand," said Ian, best known for her hit "At Seventeen." The original article was a combination of a cry for help from an established artist to get back the rights to the work that the record companies have made massive profits from, and to allow works to be downloaded on the Net. The reaction from the industry was swift and a bit painful.

Ian recalls when she first heard from Hilary Rosen on the issue: "Hilary called me up to plainly and politely give me her side of the story. She wasn't nasty about it, the way a lot of anti-RIAA zealots have portrayed her. Look, she has a job to do. And she has intellectual property rights to protect for her members."

Far from being anti-label, Ian celebrates the fact that her label has been very kind to her over the years. "If it wasn't for Columbia, I'd never have sold as many albums and singles as I have, and I wouldn't have made as much money as I have." Rather, she wants the labels to realize that they will be dinosaurs if they don't embrace the technology of the Internet instead of trying to hamfistedly control it.

"The train has left the station, and the labels need to play catchup if they are going to be on the trip," Ian said. She'd received over 2,200 e-mails when I had interviewed her on Online Tonight, and had responded personally to every one of them.

These days, you're likely to find the Net-savvy Ian in someone's living room, having auctioned herself off on eBay several times for intimate concerts, all for her Pearl Foundation, benefitting returning students. The lucky bidder not only gets Janis Ian on their couch for a evening, but can record the performance. "Some people invite the neighbors over for a fancy dinner and a well-lit, well-staged concert setting in their great room, and others have me over to sit and talk and play and sing on their sofa. It's really cool."

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