The California State Senate held a hearing on Wednesday (9/6) concerning the length of recording contracts, according to published reports. Don Henley [ tickets ], Courtney Love [ tickets ] and LeAnn Rimes [ tickets ] were among those who testified in favor of repealing a law that exempts the music industry from California's seven-year limit on contracts of employment.

The Associated Press quoted Henley as saying, "Recording artists have been singled out as the only group of working people who are not afforded equal protection under California law."

Nineteen-year-old Rimes reportedly testified that if she continues recording at the average industry rate of an album every two years, she will be 35 before she has fulfilled her 21-album contract. According to the New York Times, she also testified that she has been under contract with Curb Records since she was 12 years old (and that her contract stipulates that she may only live in either Tennessee or Texas).

Among those testifying on behalf of record labels was Ark 21 label founder Miles Copeland, Salon reported.

"The difference of our business, unlike banking and all that," Copeland said, "is we invest millions of dollars in artists and at the end of it if it doesn't work, they walk, we're stuck holding the bag. This is why labels have to have a length of time with their artists."