An Extraordinary effort to free Fiona Issue #23

Despite the protest’s failure to lock down a release date for Fiona Apple’s shelved third album, campaign organizers continue to fight

By Amber Drea
Published: March 1st, 2005 | 4:18pm

While thousands of political activists flooded Washington, D.C., to protest George W. Bush’s inauguration, Free Fiona founder Dave Muscato and fellow campaign managers were preparing for their own protest. On January 28, Muscato and cohorts traveled to New York City and voiced their demands in person: that Andrew Lack, the CEO of Sony/BMG, release Fiona Apple’s long overdue third album, Extraordinary Machine, which, according to producer Jon Brion, was finished in May 2003. The music-label giant believes the record won’t sell enough to be commercially viable.

During the two months since Free Fiona was officially launched in November of last year, the international campaign received more than 21,000 signatures, including those of Alanis Morrissette and Juliana Hatfield. “Bryan Adams signed the petition, too, though we weren’t able to confirm that since we also have signatures from Bill Clinton and Jesus Christ,” Muscato said. Free Fiona also raised $3,500, $500 of which was donated by Michael Jackson, and another $1,500 came out of the campaign managers’ own pockets.

The money went toward maintaining the Web site (freefiona.com) and the expenses for “Apple Week” (January 24-28). Kicking off the daily activities was the shipment of 1,500 Styrofoam apples marked with a total of 4,000 names from the petition to Sony headquarters in New York City. The protest took place on Friday and began at 11 a.m. Muscato brought the 900-page printed petition, which he hoped to deliver to Lack in person, red hats for protestors to wear, and a 7-foot-tall banner displaying a huge apple for passersby to sign, which would earn them a sticker that read, “I signed the Big Apple.”

Only about 45 people showed up, not counting reporters from Howard Stern, The New York Times, and Italian paper Corriere della Sera. In the 12-degree weather, the number dwindled down to a mere 15, including the campaign managers. Hired police officers asked the protestors to stay on public property, which meant standing single-file along the strip of sidewalk within three feet of the curb. According to Muscato, Sony even increased its lobby security and sent out memos with photos of the campaign managers to warn employees about the protest. “I don’t know what they thought we were gonna do,” said Muscato, who emphasized keeping the protest fun and discouraged aggressive behavior.

Because of noise-control issues, the protestors weren’t allowed to use a megaphone or play Apple’s music from their boom box. Instead, they chanted, “No single, no problem / We want the whole album” and limericks like “There was once a girl from New York / She refused to eat bacon and pork / This Extraordinary Machine / Has yet to be seen / Because Sony is full of big jerks.” The protest, which lasted until well after 5 p.m., moved to Times Square in attempt to get on MTV’s Total Request Live and then to the Fuse network offices where Muscato briefly met with the station manager, and the banner was filmed through the studio window.

Though Free Fiona received no acknowledgment or release date from Lack, Muscato and his cohorts haven’t given up. “We’re still fighting for this,” Muscato said. “Basically we wanted to let everybody know that the music that is on the radio is not the music that people want [and] to raise awareness about how file sharing is really hurting the music industry.”