In the early part of the 20th century, blues musicians in the south were actively being sought by northern record and publishing companies for their music. Blues music had begun to garner widespread attention and appeal, and publishers, record labels, and other business people wanted to cash in on the craze. These people would venture to the south and seek out any and all musicians they could find and arrange to have them recorded.

These bluesmen were recorded in radio station studios, makeshift studios set up in barns, hotel rooms, clubs, or any where equipment can be hauled. The sessions might last from a few hours to a few days, depending on how many songs a particular artist had. The songs recorded were usually original compositions written by the bluesman, and were often performed without any written documentation such as sheet music needed. In fact, some of the blues musician were illiterate and could not have written the songs down if they wanted to.

After each session was done, the record and publishing people would approach the artist with a fistful of cash and a piece of paper. In exchange for the money--usually ranging no more than $50--the blues man was told to sign the paper placed before him. During this time period, when minimum wage was approximately .25 cents an hour, $50 looked like a fortune. To the bluesmen, this seemed an even better deal to them since the songs they had recorded were ones they had taken only a few minutes to write and now they were receiving a tremendous amount of money for them. Once the paperwork was signed, the blues artists received their money, the producers got their recordings, and all seemed good.

Flash forward 20 years: the British “invasion” is in full effect with bands like the Beatles, the Who, Manfred Mann, Cream, Chad and Jeremy, The Hollies, The Dave Clark Five and others recording tunes which many would soon list as the definitive sound of that era, songs which would sell millions and millions and millions of copies worldwide.

These songs, regularly played on radio, put in movie soundtracks, used in commercials, made everyone connected with them rich--the artists, the publishers, the managers, the lawyers , the agents, the film producers, etc. Everyone got rich, that is, except the songwriters who wrote them, the bluesmen who had been sought out years earlier.

These blues artists had unknowingly signed over all rights of ownership to their music to the business people who had offered them $50. In many cases, not only had they signed over rights to their music, but their names were not even listed as that of the writer--the head of the label or publishing company was. These artists would realize only years later what a huge and devastating mistake they had made, a mistake made more glaring as they saw everyone but them receive widespread fame and fortune as “innovators” and “originators”.

Many of these blues artists sought legal action to remedy this travesty, but in most cases they were unsuccessful. The courts ruled time and again that the contracts these artists had unknowingly signed out of naivete or ignorance, were still, in fact valid and binding. Many of these blues artists went to their graves penniless and destitute, knowing that their compositions were sonic goldmines for everyone else.

I bring this topic up this week because similar events in today’s music world are strikingly similar to the bluesmen of old. I recently counselled an artist I was working with through my company on the intricate details of music publishing, songwriting and royalties. It seems that she was asked to rap on a session of a local artist who is releasing a CD here in Detroit. Her job was to create a rap for the break in the song to punch up the laidback soulful vibe of the tune. After hearing the song played through a few times, she wrote some lyrics down, stood in front of the mic, and practically blew it away with her delivery. The artist whom she was performing for--who was also the producer of the session--was so impressed that he gave her $100 for her time. He also had her sign a document stating that she was a musician on the project--and that everything she did was owned by him.

Just as with the bluesmen of old, many artists today--especially rappers--are still being grossly used and abused for their skills. According to Copyright law, anyone who contributes to the writing of a

tune is considered a co-writer and thus EQUALLY entitled to a share of the ownership, and profits. Most rappers are unaware that they have such rights and ASSUME--as did my client--that they have to sign over their rights as a “work for hire”. This feeling is commonplace when the rapper is either contributing a small portion to someone else’s material, or when the rapper is performing over a track recorded by someone else. Their rationale is that since it only took a few minutes to compose the rap, then it was something that they did not need to worry about getting credit for.

Writing a rap involves the same procedures as writing a song in that some creative individual needs to put inspiration to paper, hard drive, or tape and produce a sound, melody, or lyric that is pleasing and satisfying. When this happens, the writer should be adequately compensated and protected. Too many artists are being exploited by having unscrupulous producers imply that their work somehow loses copyright protection and they must sign it over. Many artists are simply unaware that a hit record can pay royalties to them for the rest of their natural lives--as well as to their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Everything an artist creates--whether in 10 minutes or ten weeks--has the potential to become a monster hit and thus a revenue producing entity for years to come.

I always tell people that the song “Happy Birthday” took about 20 minutes to create over 100 years ago and now earns its copyright holder over $2 million each year in performance royalties.

As for my client, I advised her to IMMEDIATELY cease all business dealings with that other artist and seek out legal advice on the contract she signed. I told her it may not be too late to try and undo the damage that may be on the horizon if she acts NOW and not wait years later. Another thing I advised her to do was to READ about the lives of the blues artists I mentioned above so as to see that, when it comes to deception and exploitation in the music industry, all that’s old is new again.