Ozzy Osbourne has laid into the modern day major record labels, saying he believes they exploit young musicians who are hungry for fame.
Ozzy focused his anger on the terms of deals signed by new artists, which he claims forces them to give up certain publishing rights, including appearance royalties from touring. “Nowadays? Fucking hell! The other day, I was informed that new bands who’ve just signed with their record companies have to give away part of their publishing, part of their gig money, part of their concession,” Osbourne said in an interview with The Quietus. “What the fuck is going on? I wouldn’t like to be one of the bands of today. It’s fucking disgusting the way they treat the bands.”
Later, Ozzy also commented on the fickle nature of the current music scene, which can see bands and singers transform from being labelled ‘the next big thing’ to obscurity in the space of one album. “It’s changed so much,” he said. “Someone can be the biggest thing in the world, and then the next month you go, ‘What happened to them?’ Record sales are no more – they aren’t selling records that much anymore, because of this downloading thing.”
Ozzy’s latest solo album, ‘Scream‘, was released in June this year and hit the top 20 in both the UK and the US charts.