# Black artists who got ripped off



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I'm listening to Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens recordings, for which I just found out last night he never received any royalties. That happened to a lot of blues guys too, like Son House. 

Who else?


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

An interesting topic. 

Looking forward to the replies from those who know.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Because of a combination of dodgy managers, dodgy deals and sheer bad luck the folk group-turned-psychedelic soul band The Chambers Brothers have earned next to diddly-squat for their songwriting efforts going all the way back to their 68-71 heyday. Needless to say, this form of exploitation of countless artists whatever their skin colour has gone on since time immemorial, although blues and jazz artists were particularly hard-done-by due to their understandable unawareness of the finer points of the law of contract and not knowing how to tell when they were being ripped off. Paradoxically, some blues artists in the first half of the 20th century may have rooked their fellow musicians by laying claim to songs that were taught by others and/or composed by others but were never registered, published or even recorded.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

science said:


> I'm listening to Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens recordings, for which I just found out last night he never received any royalties. That happened to a lot of blues guys too, like Son House.
> 
> Who else?


Thousands of others of all colors. And not just in the early days. I remember reading that Bessie Smith only received one penny per record sold. If you're poor, uneducated, and don't have legal representation, you are obviously going to be on the losing end dealing with a wealthy corporation.

I wonder how much Elvis made on Hound Dog compared to Big Mama Thornton? Artists like Willie Dixon sued and fought back when Led Zeppelin rearranged some of his tunes and claimed authorship.


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

MC Hammer.


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## misterjones (Oct 9, 2007)

Royalties were not automatic by any means. If a black (or white) artist did not receive any royalties, it might very well have been because he (or she) took a flat cash payment instead. Bluesmen in the 1920s and 1930s frequently were paid a flat fee (often $50) per song and were on their way, sometimes violating the recording contracts themselves by recording elsewhere under a different name. 

I don't know what deal Armstrong had negotiated with his record label(s).


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

Duke Ellington should have a Pulitzer Prize for music, but the board were a bunch a bigoted oiks.

'Ellington was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1965, but was turned down. His reaction at 67 years old: "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young."'


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## misterjones (Oct 9, 2007)

I believe you win a Pulitzer Prize for a particular work. It's not a lifetime achievement award like the Nobel Prize. What piece did he compose in 1964-65 that was worthy of the award?


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

I am unsure, but they were so insistent he didn't get it that no prize was awarded to anyone that year. He'd won the prize but they never gave it to him.


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## misterjones (Oct 9, 2007)

I think the reason was a snobbish dislike of jazz rather than racial bigotry. In any event, if it were up to me, I'd give him the award for Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue.

Precious few awards, then and now, are given for artistic merit.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Clyde Stubblefield


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