update: The Recording Artists Coalition (RAC), an advocacy group led by musicians Don Henley [ tickets ] and Sheryl Crow [ tickets ], has made plans to hold several simultaneous concerts in Southern California next month to raise funds that will support its efforts to protect artists' rights. The various events will feature such big-name artists as the Eagles, Elton John, Billy Joel, No Doubt, Ozzy Osbourne and Clint Black.

The concerts are set to take place on Feb. 26, one night before the 44th annual Grammy Awards, according to an RAC press release. The Eagles, Crow, John, Joel, the Dixie Chicks and Stevie Nicks are slated to perform at the Great Western Forum; No Doubt, the Offspring and Weezer at the Long Beach Arena; Ozzy Osbourne, Korn, Rob Zombie and other as-yet-unnamed acts at the Los Angeles Sports Arena; and Clint Black, Trisha Yearwood and additional acts at an as-yet-unannounced venue.

Details on additional artists who will perform at other venues on the same night will be released in the coming weeks. Proceeds from the concerts will directly fund the RAC's work to represent "the economic and creative interests of featured recording artists whose interests are not always directly represented by other organizations or the recording industry," according to the RAC.

Henley and Crow formed the RAC after Congress passed in 1999 a controversial amendment to the 1976 Copyright Act that classified musicians' recorded works as freelance "works made for hire," ownership of which the record labels could control for 95 years, as opposed to turning the rights over to the artist after the previous standard of 35 years. The amendment was reportedly requested by the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the interests of the five major record labels.

The RAC squared off with the RIAA over the issue, and the two entities reached a settlement last year in which both groups successfully lobbied Congress to repeal the act.

According to an RAC press release, the coalition is working to change the terms of "so-called 'standard recording agreement' contracts," the California version of which Henley and others argued against earlier this year.

The coalition is also involved in the debate over artists' compensation for digitally disseminated works. Proceeds from the multi-venue, pre-Grammy Awards concerts will help support that mission.

“This effort has been portrayed in some quarters as an in-your-face, antagonistic assault on the major record labels," an RAC spokesperson said in a prepared statement. "That’s not what it is. ... It should be remembered that recording artists and record companies still have common goals in many areas and we hope to be able to continue to work with the labels on those issues. There are other areas, however, where artists and labels are growing further and further apart. RAC is simply trying to promote fairness and level the playing field in this new, digitized, globalized music business."

More information on the RAC--including a lengthy list of the group's member artists--can be found at the organization's official website.