Montell Jordan
Photo: Def Soul

Long before Michael Jackson began his eyebrow-raising attack on Sony, a coalition of influential artists initiated a more civilized crusade against the record industry, and on Tuesday that battle raged on.

Representing the Recording Artists Coalition — which includes No Doubt, Beck and others (see ) — and similar action groups, several music attorneys and a few artists faced off against major-label representatives in a hearing with the California Senate Committee in Sacramento.

Montell Jordan, Sam Moore of legendary soul duo Sam & Dave, and attorney Don Engel were among those who accused record companies of fraudulent accounting practices, mainly underpaying artists royalties, according to wire reports.

Jordan testified that despite selling 2 million copies of his 1995 single "This Is How We Do It," his label claims he stills owes them money.

Moore told the committee, organized by artist rights advocate Kevin Murray, that late in his career he learned his retirement fund would be only $67 a month because his record company never reported income to his pension fund.

Engel was harsher, likening the practices of the major labels to those of Enron and WorldCom and estimating they underpay 10 to 40 percent on every royalty.

Murray, who authored the bill to repeal an amendment to the California labor code that allows musicians to have longer contracts than any other workers in the state (see ), told the committee many contracts only require the record company pay an artist what they are owed if they are found at fault in an audit.

Together, the artists and their representatives suggested the music industry develop a standard set of accounting rules.

The labels, however, denied any unlawful activity and argued that contract details are part of the negotiation process and therefore can not be the same for all artists.

Steven Marks, senior vice president of business legal affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the labels, explained the uniqueness of the music business by releasing an economic analysis that showed fewer than 5 percent of signed artists produce a hit. He claimed the industry loses an average of $6.3 million on every album that fails.

"A glaring misimpression exists that record labels are high-profit, low-risk companies uninterested in paying artists their fair share," Marks said, according to Reuters. "That's simply not reality. It is no accident that many of the higher-profile accounting and other financial disputes that have arisen over the years have been resolved with new contracts, not a parting of the ways."

The RIAA also unveiled on Tuesday a study recently completed by Michigan State University professor Steven Wildman that shows record contracts reflect terms agreed to by all parties. Of the 500 contracts between 1994 and 2000 studied, lawyers represented artists in their negotiations in all but one of the cases.

The study also showed that deals renegotiated after hit albums tended to be more financially rewarding to artists.

• Montell Jordan
• No Doubt
• Beck
• Sam Moore
• Michael Jackson

Alanis Morissette
Photo: Maverick

While the music industry prepares to honor its own on Wednesday, fans shouldn't lose sight of the fact that new releases are the lifeblood of the Grammy Awards. This week's new music features a mellowed-with-age Alanis Morissette issuing Under Rug Swept and fellow pop-music veteran Kylie Minogue offering Fever. Buzz-heavy animated hip-hop group (and Grammy nominees) Gorillaz follow up their debut with G-Sides, while turntablist coalition the X-ecutioners drop Built From Scratch with help from Linkin Park, Xzibit and others.

Next year's potential Grammy winners include ...

Out Tuesday, February 26:

• Altan - The Blue Idol (Narada World)
• ... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes (Interscope)
• Anyone - Anyone (Roadrunner)
• Audio Learning Center - Friendships Often Fade Away (TVT)
• Baby S - Street Fractions (Epic/Sony)
• Baha Men - Who Let the Dogs Out (expanded reissue, Capitol)
• Cannibal Corpse - Gore Obsessed (Metal Blade)
• Capleton - Still Blazin (VP)
• Cher - Living Proof (Reprise)
       Read about it... Do You Believe In Déjà Vu?Cher Does
• Club 8 - Spring Came, Rain Fell (Hidden Agenda/Parasol)
• Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim) - All Star Breakbeats (Navarre)
• Course of Nature - Superkala (Atlantic)
• DJ Keoki - Misdirected Jealousy (remix album, Moonshine)
• Dressy Bessy - Sound Go Round (Kindercore)
• Dru Down - Gangsta Pimpin' (C-Note)
• Few Left Standing - Wormwood (Solid State)
• Neil Finn - 7 Worlds Collide - Live at the St. James (EMD/Nettwerk)
• Fishbelly Black - Crusader (Universal)
• Gorillaz - G-Sides (Virgin)
• Grandpaboy - Mono (TVT)
• Great Big Sea - Sea of No Cares (Zoe)
• Billy Idol - VH1 Storytellers (EMD)
• Injected - Burn It Black (Island/Def Jam)
• Norah Jones - Come Away With Me (Blue Note)
• Roy Jones Jr. - Round One: The Album (Virgin)
• Montell Jordan - Montell Jordan (Island/Def Jam)
       Read about it ... Montell Jordan Sick Of Getting No Respect
• Christopher Lawrence - Around the World (Moonshine)
• Lasse Lindh - You Wake Up at Sea Tac (Hidden Agenda/Parasol)
• Lisa Loeb - Cake and Pie (Interscope)
       Read about it ... Lisa Loeb To Return With Cake And Pie
• Kylie Minogue - Fever (Capitol)
• Alanis Morissette - Under Rug Swept (Maverick)
       Hear the album now ... MTV.com's First Listen
       Read about it ... Alanis discusses Under Rug Swept
• Stanton Moore - Flyin' the Koop (Blue Thumb)
• Nappy Roots - Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz (Atlantic)
       Read about it ... Nappy Roots Aim To Nourish Kentucky-Style With Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz
• Paul Oakenfold - Bust a Groove (Navarre)
• Phantom Planet - The Guest (Epic/Sony)
       Read about it ... Phantom Planet — More Than Just 'That Band With The "Rushmore" Guy'
• Reverend Horton Heat - Lucky 7 (Artemis)
• Sharissa - No Half Steppin (Universal)
• Switched - Subject to Change (Virgin)
• Omar Faruk Tekbilek - Alif: Love Supreme (Narada World)
• Underoath - The Changing of Times (Solid State)
• Sherri Youngward - Six Inches of Sky (BEC)
• X-ecutioners - Built From Scratch (Loud)
       Read about it ... Linkin Park, Xzibit, Big Pun Turn Up On X-ecutioners' Latest
• Earl Zinger - Put Your Phazers on Stun Throw Your Health Food Skyward (K7)
• Various artists - Moulin Rouge 2 (Interscope)
• Various artists - Farm Club Live (Interscope)
• Various artists - Roswell (Netwerk America)
• Various artists - Global Hits 2002 (Universal)
• Various artists - This Is Solid State Vol. 3 (Solid State

Coming Soon (dates subject to change)

March 5:

• Apex Theory - Random Bursts (DreamWorks)
• Brandy - Full Moon (Atlantic)
• Entrain - Rise Up 1: Live (Rounder)
• Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies Island (RCA)
• Indigo Girls - Become You (Epic/Sony)

• B2K - B2K (Epic/Sony)
• The Corrs - VH1 Presents the Corrs Live in Dublin (Atlantic)
• Destiny's Child - This Is the Remix (Columbia)
• Eels - Souljacker (DreamWorks)
• Hot Rod Circuit - Sorry About Tomorrow (TVT)
• Killa Bees - The Sting (Koch)

• Alice Cooper - Welcome to My Nightmare (expanded reissue, Atlantic)
• Grateful Dead - Postcards of the Hanging (Arista)
• PPK - Resurrection (Tommy Boy)
• Simple Plan - No Helmets, No Pads ... Just Balls (Atlantic)
• Patti Smith - Land (1975-2002) (Arista)

• Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come (Epic/Sony)
• Funky Green Dogs - Super California (MCA)
• Jay-Z and R. Kelly - The Best of Both Worlds (Island/Def Jam)
• Project Pat - Layin da Smack Down (Loud)
• Rubyblue - Beyond Pink (BAB)

• Gorillaz
• Alanis Morissette
• The X-Ecutioners
• Montell Jordan
• Lisa Loeb

Montell Jordan
Photo: Island/Def Jam

Writing hit records seems easy for Montell Jordan. It's earning respect that has proven difficult. Despite releasing four albums, all of which have been certified either gold or platinum, and having written for Sisqó ("Incomplete"), Deborah Cox ("Nobody's Supposed to Be Here") and others, the Los Angeles crooner is almost never thought of as a premier R&B artist.

Jordan's first single, the platinum "This Is How We Do It," sampled Slick Rick's "Children's Story" and turned out to be a blessing and a curse. The surefire party cut propelled his 1995 album of the same name to platinum status, but it also created a situation where Jordan was ridiculed by rap aficionados who didn't approve of his sampling the Slick Rick song and dismissed by a number of pundits who treated him as a one-hit wonder.

He's persevered, however, and has since recorded with LL Cool J, Redman and Master P, among others — without gaining the acclaim most other artists with his résumé would normally attain.

"I can't even explain what it is for me to feel like time after time that I'm called just a 'one-hit wonder,' " Jordan said. "[No matter what I did,] it wasn't as big as 'This Is How We Do It.' For four albums, it's like I've been living in the shadow of the biggest record of my career. That's led to a lot of frustration."

That frustration gets voiced on "MJ's Anthem," a cut from Jordan's forthcoming self-titled album, due February 26. On the cut, Jordan addresses some of the naysayers, offering a side of himself that contrasts with his "have-fun" image.

"I normally don't express myself like I'd like to," he said. "I normally let people think [whatever they'd like about me]. I normally don't speak out or say stuff, where I'm pissed off or that I don't like how this is going down."

On the rest of the album, Jordan stays closer to more traditional loverman R&B form, even though the LP sees him exploring something he's never addressed directly: his personal life. Married for eight years and the father of a 5-year-old daughter, he's experienced several rocky periods with his marriage.

On the gripping "Are You With Me," he sings of going through a struggle with fidelity and how he mistreated the woman he feels God had given him as a gift. A powerful passage, this cut signifies Jordan's growth as both a person and as an artist, as he sheds the air of ambivalence that coats many current R&B records.

"This whole album is dedicated to me and my wife and the struggle that we've been through," he said. "A lot of the ballads on the album, other than the sensual ballads, talk about the mistakes that a guy made in his life, about not being true to a woman, about being lonely and dealing with issues that he has in his failures and his insecurities and the mistakes that he's made.

"It's about regrets, about the mistakes Montell has made," he continued. "I'm talking about how we've overcome barriers and obstacles. This album is a testimony for the place that we are in our marriage and in our life."

Even though the new album is Jordan's strongest artistic statement, he said his other work has been misinterpreted to a degree. He points to his most recent hit, 1999's "Get It On ... Tonite," the tale of a man who is having relationship issues and pursues a woman he encounters.

"The basis behind that song was that Montell's got issues in his marriage and that Montell's going through a struggle where he's got a girl but girls are throwing their asses at him all the time and he doesn't know how to control himself," Jordan said. "Because he's got issues, he's got to live out his life through a song and live out this false role of the man he's trying to be and the man that he's struggling with. Nobody goes deep enough to see what an artist's actually going through. That's why a guy like Marvin Gaye got so frustrated, because people couldn't fully see what he was going through, the torment that he was in until after he was dead and gone. Then we go back and listen to his music and say, 'Well, he had so many problems with drugs and he was in love with this or that.' We've got to look deeper beyond what a song is saying and see what the man is saying."

With Montell Jordan, the singer hopes to give people more than just music to listen to to pass the time.

"I appreciate the opportunity to be able to stand before people for a fifth time," he said. "I hope that this time when people listen to my project they'll come away from it not feeling like they heard a song that they like, but that they might know a little bit more about me as a person."

• Montell Jordan

R&B singer Montell Jordan and jazz saxophonist Dave Koz will reprise their cover of "Careless Whisper" during a special performance at the 49th Annual Miss Universe Pageant in Nicosia, Cyprus on May 12.

Jordan and Koz, who originally teamed up to record a version of the Wham!/George Michael tune for Koz's recent album, "The Dance" (see "Montell Jordan Adds Some Wham! To Dave Koz's 'Dance'"), will perform the song live during the pageant's evening gown competition.

Sinbad will serve as host for this year's edition of the Miss Universe Pageant, which CBS is scheduled to broadcast on May 12 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT).

Jordan becomes the latest pop singer to take the beauty pageant plunge, as Christina Aguilera and Lou Bega both took to the stage for the Miss USA contest in February.

On May 21, Jordan will join Smash Mouth, Enrique Iglesias, IMX, Pink, Blaque, and Mint Condition for the KDWB Star Party 2000 at Minneapolis' Target Center.

• Montell Jordan

After handing the track "Love Sets You Free" over for the soundtrack to the critically acclaimed film "The Hurricane," Kelly Price has reworked the song with some high-profile friends for a good cause.

-- John Gill

• Dru Hill
• Montell Jordan
• Kelly Price
• Sisqó

Singer-songwriter Kelly Price is currently in the studio working on the follow-up to her 1998 platinum debut, "Soul Of A Woman," which she hopes to have out on Def Jam/Def Soul Records by the middle of next year.

-- John Gill

• Jermaine Dupri
• Montell Jordan
• R. Kelly
• Kelly Price

R&B vocalist Montell Jordan will host a special party in New York City next week to celebrate his new album "Get It On... Tonite," and he has invited hip-hop peers such as Jay-Z, Ja Rule, and Salt-N-Pepa to help him throw down in style.

-- David Basham

• Dru Hill
• Ja Rule
• Jay-Z
• Montell Jordan
• Sisqó

Montell Jordan is one busy guy lately: he's preparing to release his next album, "Get It On Tonight..."; then there's his job as host of TV's "Motown Live," which occupies a good chunk of his schedule as well. He seems to have enough free time to appear on other people's albums, however.

-- John Gill

• Montell Jordan
• George Michael

Breaking the unspoken rule that R&B and hip-hop albums need to have all-star guest lists, Montell Jordan has decided to apply the true definition of "solo" to his next LP, "Get It On Tonight…"

-- John Gill

• James Brown
• Montell Jordan
• K-Ci & JoJo

Montell Jordan is currently preparing to release his fourth album, "Get It On Tonight…," but that's not all the singer has in the works.