Other sites...

[Chuck]

BEN - Wow, HI! { Are you still in France? Any hints, or even hints about hints? ? }

Lefty, I know you don't get angry. That's what makes me so mad! That's also why I'm going to pick on you extra, in a minute. Can I leave one small apology to you, right now, then I'll still owe you one later, but the bill won't be so bad?

Lefty, Jess, Wildfire, Ben, everyone, lots of love and respect to all of you. Yes, I was joking when I said people were "hot and bothered". I'm sorry for causing anyone any further bothers. Or botherednesses.

Everyone, you've all checked out Jess' website, right? If not, do it now, and thank him by next thursday:::

http://www.international-music-video...69%3Be&x=0&y=0
http://www.international-music-video...foires&x=0&y=0


ANYHOO, yes, I was writing all that provocative speculation just for fun. Just for amusement. And just to get it out there. If, as some of you say, this has all been discussed before, then someone please clue me where to look-- I sincerely would love to see what else has been said. (And I should get all my facts straight, too, before publishing this sordid, made-up tale in "The Tattler").


LEFTY, you're right again, at least on the overall picture. You said:
"As for the Alizée/Mylene thing, I assume Alizée had the industry standard recording contract and no more taken advantage of than any other artist. I assume the breakup was a natural progression of life, and therefore, no harm, no foul. In my opinion, whatever possible friction that may or may not have existed between Alizée and Mylene is of no real consequence."

My Good Monsieur Lefty: I totally agree with that last sentence. At this point, this is all pointless conjecture. (Please, can somebody lead me back to the pointed conjecture floor?)

But Lefty, I very strongly disagree with your assessment: "the industry standard recording contract". I'm no doctor, but I know that "the industry standard recording contract" would normally be made with a record company. The "industry standard" entertainment contract would normally be made with an agent or manager who gets 10- 15%. So I don't think the word "standard" applies. This was a very specific, very specialized, very unique contract, and I can't think of anything comparable, before or since.

...Okay, then i thought of 2-3 contracts I would call comparable to Alizee's contract with Mylene:
- Disney's festering pools of fostering young talent...
- Colonel Tom Parker's deal with Elvis,
-or a medieval indentured-servitude contract?

Discussable? Anybody got any better comparisons? Like Robert Johnson's deal with the Devil?

Quoting Lefty again:
" I assume the breakup was a natural progression of life, and therefore, no harm, no foul."
Lefty. Dude. Just supposin' - - - what if those assumptions were wrong?

(Once Again, Lefty, Apologies. Next time I'll quote Wasabi or someone else.)

Ultimately, It's been fun writing this crazy stuff. If someone wants to believe Alizee and Mylene parted ways by shaking hands and smiling, fine. If someone else want to imagine they had a big clawing, biting, hair-pulling, name-calling, look-out-for-that-jello, all-out catfight when they split, uhh



Where was I?

Oh I remember, I was about to quote wildfire:

Originally Posted by wildfire

I think its more about the future.. hoping that she will continue to make her music and have that amazing stage presence that we fell in luv with.

[Jess]

Originally Posted by Chuck

Everyone, you've all checked out Jess' website, right? If not, do it now, and thank him by next thursday:::

http://www.international-music-video...69%3Be&x=0&y=0
http://www.international-music-video...foires&x=0&y=0

Thanks for promoting my website Chuck !! I have a small announcement to make on this:

Just a small note to let you all know that I will be bringing down all the videos on my site only temporary this coming month. I'm excited to say I've had some very generous video contributions and I've decided to re-upload everything by date or at least by year. I'm talking hundreds of HD videos of complete sets of different events, just from Star Academy 2008 I have well over a 100 videos. I have NRJ Music Awards, MTV European Music Awards, La Fete de La Music, Night of the Proms, Tandem, Charles Aznavar Le Grand Anniversaire, M6 Live Performances, Vivement Dimanche Performances, Telethons, Miss France 2009, etc. These are just some of the 2009 performances, the list goes. I'm sorting them out now, although it will take me quite a while to do so as I have to re-convert some from .TS to .avi, some have to be re-encoded because of the sound quality not that it's bad just has to do with audio codecs that don't play well online depending on the requirements of the server you're on, and also I have to add video info as not all videos have that included in their tittles. I will start re-uploading them as soon as I can little by little. Can't wait to share this with all of you !!

[lefty12357]

@Chuck, you have probably noticed that I frequently use phrases like “I suppose”, “I get the feeling that”, “It seems to me”, and other such weasel words because I don’t want to state my opinion as if it was a fact. The truth is, I factually don’t know what went down between Mylene and Alizée, and I’m just stating my opinion based on what I consider the most likely possibilities. Of course I could easily be very wrong about everything I said. We're definitely in speculation mode here. As far as the contracts go, I have seen industry standard contracts before, and I had my lawyer explain them to me. That was a few years ago and things could change, but at least I have an idea how such things work.

About Alizée’s contracts; it seems to me that there would be a contract with Mylene as her manager and also a separate contract with the recording company. I have no clue what her contract with Mylene was like and such contracts could be quite varied.

Record companies rarely give out anything but the “standard” contract to new artists. If you become a big hit, you can try to negotiate a better contract when the first one runs out. Typically the “standard” contract is for one album, with the record company having the option to have you do up to 4 more over a period of 5 years. Of course these “standards” may be different in France, but since these companies are multinational, I would expect there isn’t too much variation.

Some variations of the above to consider; Alizée’s contract with Mylene may have actually been with Mylene’s publishing company, not Mylene directly. Alizée may have given Mylene or her publishing company the right to negotiate and sign a contract on her behalf with the record company. There are so many possibilities to consider.

I look at it this way, Alizée had to sing, dance, let her wonderful personality shine, and be the "face" of the product. MF/LB had to write the lyrics and music, arrange for the choreography, the clothing, videos, recording sessions, arrangements with the record company, musicians, dancers, singers, tours, promotion, and on and on and on. With 2 albums and 1 tour, Alizée came out pretty comfortable, I would say, yet the bulk of the work was done for her. She has said so. Many artists walk away with nothing after 2 albums.

So I suppose the question remains, did Mylene do right by Alizée. Without any solid proof to the contrary, I simply give Mylene the benefit of the doubt.

A good discussion, but we sure have gotten off-topic.

[Topaz]

Lefty, you are correct in all but one thing. With the backing of Mylene, the contract was not a "standard" contract.

Hi to all, must run, very busy.

[lefty12357]

No doubt you are absolutely right, Topaz. That's why I added my little weasel words paragraph, "Some variations of the above to consider".

And by the way, it's really nice to see you again ! Even though you are very busy, I hope you can find time to visit us more often. I really appreciate your insights on such matters.

[Topaz]

Merci for the kind words.