Michael Jackson Plays The Race Card

The self-ordained King of Pop Michael Jackson lashed out at the music industry's treatment of black artists -- including himself -- in an appearance Saturday with New York civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton.

"The record companies really do conspire against the artists," Jackson, 43, told an adoring crowd of around 350 people inside Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters in Harlem. "Especially the black artists."

The former boy wonder of the Jackson Five said generations of black musicians have been hurt and manipulated by profit-grabbing record companies, and called attention to his own dispute with label Sony Music.

"When you fight for me, you're fighting for all black people, dead and alive," Jackson said.

Jackson has called on Sony to release music recorded in a charity effort that followed the Sept. 11 attacks. There have also been charges that Sony Music, owned by Japanese media and electronics giant Sony Corp., failed to properly promote his latest album, "Invincible," which has had disappointing sales.

The dispute has won sympathy from Sharpton and lawyer Johnnie Cochran, who have started an initiative against what the two say is the exploitation of artists of all races and colors by record companies.

A Sony representative could not be reached Saturday, but the company has said in the past that it is "surprised and saddened" by Jackson's statements and defended its "considerable" promotion of "Invincible."

Later Saturday, a group of around 150 fans -- including a few Jackson look-alikes and one man who regaled the crowd with his Jackson-inspired "moonwalk" dance -- gathered outside Sony's midtown Manhattan offices to call for a boycott of all Sony products and the ouster of Sony Music Entertainment Chief Executive Thomas Mottola.

"We feel that they are sabotaging the album," said Chantal Obrist, who came to New York from Switzerland to join the protest.

Charges that record companies have exploited minority artists are neither new nor limited to the King of Pop. Many have argued that African-American musicians have been withheld the riches generated by their creativity and performances for more than a century.

The industry has defended itself by emphasizing the financial risks taken on by record labels when they sign new artists, many of whom fail to make money.