Very interesting post. I wish more artists would take a stand the way Pearl Jam did a few years ago against Ticketmaster. They are one of the biggest ripoffs around, and have boycotted them for ten years. I really don't have money for much live entertainment these days, but if I couldn't make time to go to the box office to purchase tickets, I'll gladly do without, thank you. Their service fees are totally ridiculous, even more so on line than at their physical locations.

Pertaining to artists leaving labels, John Prine, who started out playing clubs in Chicago, was with Atlantic for a few years, and heard that he got royally ripped off, and eventually started his own label. This is a good story, even though he never achieved the commercial success many once thought he would. For a time he was being billed as the next Bob Dylan. And Mary Chapin Carpenter, although she did achieve amazing commercial success, has also gone back to her roots with an independent.