Here's a transcript of Dave's article in July's Billboard magazine...
TRANSPARENCY - The full, accurate, and timely disclosure of information.
by Dave Stewart
I bought a new shirt in Milan two weeks ago and used my Visa card. After the merchant swiped my card the data traveled 30,000 kilometers and crossed 12 nations, contacted my bank, checked credit limits, then verified the merchant's bank account details to transfer money in 1.4 seconds.
My purchase of a shirt in Milan was one of over 160 million payments happening every day, payments that equate to over 12 billion dollars, transactions that will settle out to the last Yen, Cent and Centavo. In 1983, Visa launched it's anyplace anywhere ATM system, at the same time as "Sweet Dreams" went Number One. If I sold shirts, I would receive instant, crystal clear accounting for my business. But since I make music, I am forced to deal with some incomprehensible labyrinth of archaic accounting methods. Visa has had this system in place for 30 years and I've been selling records in one form or another for about the same amount of time. As an artist, a songwriter and a producer, I, along with every other artist, have long yearned for advanced, transparent reporting structures in order to address the entrenched and endemic problem of years of late/short payments.
