Tori Amos

Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos on August 22, 1963 in Newton, North Carolina, USA) is an American singer-songwriter.

Conflict with the music industry

(The majority of the allegations made here surfaced in Amos' biography "Piece by Piece". They can neither be proven or disproven, and are simply assertions made by Amos; however, they have not been contested by her former record label.)

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Conflict between Tori and the music industry has surfaced on various occasions. Her first label, Atlantic Records, wanted her 1994 album Under the Pink to be changed significantly before its release. She told them that it was not going to happen, and that if they brought it up again she would burn the masters.

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After the release of her album From the Choirgirl Hotel in 1998, she had a meeting with the heads of the label. Amos questioned why her work was not being promoted properly. Atlantic revealed that they preferred to spend their capital trying to break newer artists, who they felt would make them more money. Amos demanded to be freed from her contract, but the label refused. Instead, they chose to exercise their option to keep Amos on board until she had released an additional three albums, as stipulated in her contract. According to Amos, they felt their power had been challenged and intentionally would do as little as they could do (legally speaking) to promote the works so that her career would be decimated by the time she had a chance to switch to a new label.

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The label fully followed through on their threat. For example: artists usually provide the label with a section of seats to each of their concerts that can be given to local radio honchos in exchange for the promise that the artist's new work would be heavily played. Atlantic Records gave Amos’s tickets while requesting that other artists on the label be played as a return favor. As a result, Amos's album sales steadily declined.

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Amos, however, managed to beat the label at its own game. She experienced a sudden burst of creativity which formed into the 11 new songs on the first disc of her fifth album, To Venus and Back. In place of a previously planned album of B-sides, Amos released a double disc (including a disc of live material from her "Plugged '98" tour) thereby fulfilling two of her three remaining albums in a single release.

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Ultimately in 2001, Atlantic records released a widely distributed press release listing the acts that they were "dropping from the label" due to alleged poor album sales. Among them were singer Poe and Amos. Amos claimed her contractual obligations had simply been fulfilled and that neither side was interested in renewing the contract.

Related Topics:
2001 - Poe

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If Amos’s reputation suffered from her dealings with Atlantic, it did not do so for long. After establishing a new deal with Epic Records, she achieved her most successful American radio single to date, "a sorta fairytale" (2002/3). Despite this, however, Epic has resorted to the same "promotion" Tori was receiving from Atlantic, a strategy which selects inappropriate songs for singles and does not promote; Amos has as a result not had a song on radio sans AAA since 2003's Minor Adult Top 40 hit "Taxi Ride."

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