HARLEM, NY (FinalCall.com)�Michael Jackson, "The King of Pop," took his gloves off here at the Rev. Al Sharpton�s National Action Network (NAN) July 6, when he accused Sony Records and the recording industry in general of conspiring to profit on the backs of artists while robbing them, "especially Blacks." He announced his intention to help stop what he described as an historical pattern.

After the great performers like Sammy Davis, James Brown, Fred Astaire and others are older and are no longer chart busters, "they must stay on tour," Mr. Jackson said during a morning rally. They�re broke, victims of those recording executives whom they have enriched, he charged. Mr. Jackson emphasized the need for his enthusiastic admirers here to get involved. "It is time we put a stop to it," he said.

Once described as a shrewd industry billionaire himself, Mr. Jackson has reportedly lost much of his financial glitter in recent years to a variety of legal and other challenges, which continue with Sony Music, his German-based longtime promoter and others, reports show.

At the National Action Network rally, Mr. Jackson, who is no longer with Sony, described Tommy Mottola, president of Sony�s record division, as mean, "a racist and he is very, very, very devilish." At issue was Sony�s promotion of Jackson�s latest album, "Invincible." The album debuted at No. 1 worldwide but did not pay-off as his previous albums have. Sony, which claims to have dumped $25 million into promotions, wants Mr. Jackson to pay that tab.

Rev. Sharpton and Grammy Award winner James Mtume weighed in at the rally to support Mr. Jackson�s charges. They complained that artists are not only required to pay their record labels back for promotional costs and video budgets, but they also have no say on how the budgets are directed and which firms will be hired with their money. To date, they added, none of the billions of dollars the Black community generates in the record industry filters through the hands of major "minority" advertising, travel or PR firms.

Mr. Mtume and Mr. Jackson are the first major artists to publicly join a recent effort that was launched by Rev. Sharpton and Atty. Johnnie Cochran to protect the rights of recording artists. They are calling on artists to attend a summit to discuss these issues and formulate plans here at NAN headquarters July 9. The aim is for transparency and a review of the way companies handle talent in the recording industry.

After the rally, which included a number of local elected officials, cheering admirers who lined the police barricades outside Mr. Sharpton�s headquarters greeted Mr. Jackson. He waived before he was whisked away in a black stretch-limo to a planned demonstration in front of Sony offices downtown.

Mr. Jackson, whose rise to fame began as the lead singer of the Jackson 5 in the late 1960s, eventually broke off from the group. He became a solo act that broke previous records for hit album sales by the early 1980s.

In 1985, Mr. Jackson rocked the record industry again by purchasing the rights to Beatles� songs from the British firm Associated Communications Corporation. Then his troubles began with a series of allegations and court challenges. He later sold 50 percent of the Beatles�s catalog rights back to Sony in 1991 for about $85 million, according to reports. In the mid-90s, he asked Sony to guarantee a $160 million loan against his remaining 50 percent share of the rights.

Cable channel Fox News reported that the company was attempting to force Mr. Jackson to hand over the remaining shares this past March. It was also reported that the singer owned 50 percent of Sony shares himself. Earlier this year, his longtime German-based promoter Marcel Avram, of Mama Concerts and Rau, filed a $21 million plus interest suit against Mr. Jackson in a Los Angeles Superior Court room over New Years Eve concerts the star cancelled in 1999.