FAMOUS PEOPLE MAKE BAD DEALS TOO

Famous people are like unicorns around here:

I’d have to make one up.

Besides, I like famous people best when I know nothing about them.

Call it the Elvis Effect.

Nothing I’ve heard about Elvis makes a difference to his lasting legacy when I say his name to Siri.

I just called for Elvis and ‘Kentucky Rain’ came on.

That’s not the Elvis I pine for, so I called again.

This time it was ‘Love Me.’

Not Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock, or Love Me Tender?

And not In The Ghetto?

I still like Elvis, the Elvis movie, and most everything in between, except the part where he got locked to Col. Tom Parker.

How do famous people find themselves trapped for so long?

 

On November 21, 1955, Elvis Presley signed this management agreement with Colonel Thomas A. Parker to engage him solely as his manager for all purposes to do with entertainment and related activities.

This agreement bears the signatures of both Elvis’ parents (Gladys and Vernon) as Elvis was a minor at the time of signing the document.

 

Elvis was a kid, Parker saw something, Mr. and Mrs. Presley had hopes.

And the rest is history?

 

Paul McCartney And Michael Jackson

From American Songwriter:

With the Beatles, the publishing had originally gone to McCartney and John Lennon, who wrote the majority of the tracks.

The two had formed a publishing company Northern Songs Ltd. in 1964 to generate revenues from their growing catalog. So, for every time “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was used in a movie, the company got paid.

But in 1969, the British outfit Associated TeleVision was involved in a messy takeover of Northern Songs, which led McCartney and Lennon to sell off their shares of the company they’d started.

“Very early on we got managed into a little situation,” McCartney said in an interview in 1989. “It meant that whatever the lion’s share of the songs we did were taken by someone else.”

 

Then Paul and Michael buddied up for good times.

Paul: The money is in buying song publishing.

Mike: I know, I’m buying the right to all The Beatles’ songs.

Paul: Wait, what?

Mike: It’s just business, Paul.

That’s not exactly what they said, but the results weren’t good for their friendship.

They weren’t kids, had been around the block, and this is what happens.

The difference between the stories of legal shenanigans and slippery guys sucking up money for nothing, but no chicks for free?

It happens all to often with famous people.

 

Bruce Springsteen:

 

“The irony is that I myself had much to do with the pitching and existence of this tent here in the corner of my personal little carnival,” Springsteen wrote in his 2016 autobiography Born to Run.

“Mike shouldn’t have been so overreaching, but my young fears and refusal to accept responsibility for my own actions also brought much of this into being.”

A naive young Springsteen had signed away rights to his publishing and a large chunk of money to his management. “More than rich, more than successful, more than happy, I wanted to be great,” Springsteen said in a 2010 documentary.

In his book, Springsteen described Appel as wanting to protect his investment following the success of Born to Run.

Both of them acutely aware of how significantly Born to Run changed their circumstances, Appel carried a new set of agreements with him all through Europe as the band toured, trying to get Springsteen to sign them.

But, describing himself as no longer “clueless,” Springsteen wanted to get a better understanding of the original agreements he’d blindly signed with Appel. He wanted a lawyer — and not the one Appel provided — to look them over.

 

Let’s say it together: GET A SECOND OPINION.

 

John Fogerty:

After a contentious, five-decade struggle involving his former record company, rocker John Fogerty has gained worldwide control of the publishing rights to the dozens of classics he recorded with Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The singer signed a deal with Fantasy in 1968, but relinquished his artist royalties to Zaentz in 1980 in order to get out of the contract, according to Billboard.

For years, Fogerty avoided playing live any songs he’d written with CCR, as he didn’t want Zaentz to profit off any of his performances.

Post-sale, Concord will keep the CCR master recordings already in its catalog, and Fogerty said he’s “not actively sitting around worrying about” obtaining them for himself.

He’s also “not thinking about” selling his publishing rights, though recent sales by peers like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan indicate he could see a windfall.

“The last thing on my mind is thinking about selling it, I want to enjoy it,” he said. “It’s good. That’s where I’m at.”

 

Taylor Swift Breaks Free 

 

She was a kid when she picked up a pen to sign a contract.

 

In 2003, at age 13, she visited major record labels in Nashville, Tennessee, for record deals but was rejected.

In 2004, Swift performed original songs at an RCA Records showcase, and received an artist development deal.

 

Did she know about Colonel Parker? The Boss? Creedence?

She had to know all about Paul. Everyone knows all about Paul.

 

In 2005, she became the youngest artist (age 15) signed by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house, but left the Sony-owned RCA Records due to her concerns that “development deals may shelve artists”

At the 2019 Billboard Women in Music event, Swift was conferred the inaugural Woman of the Decade award for the 2010s.

In her acceptance speech, Swift addressed Braun for the first time publicly, criticizing his “toxic male privilege” and the “unregulated world of private equity coming in and buying [artists’] music as if it’s real estate—as if it’s an app or a shoe line.”

Billboard named Swift the Greatest Pop Star of 2021 for the successful and unprecedented outcomes of her re-recording venture.

Swift stated that she attempted to negotiate with Braun, but that he offered her a chance to buy the masters back only if she signed an “ironclad” NDA that only allowed her to speak positively about Braun during the process; she refused to sign the NDA.

 

Let’s agree that this famous person is not as clueless as others have been, but the business stuff goes round and round.

Sign this, and this, and let’s do the ‘sweet talk’ NDA just to make sure.

 

Do development deals really ‘shelve’ artists?

I heard Sutton Sorensen play and just knew she’d be fine in Nashville.

John Bunzow knows Nashville.

J-Ray is a Nashville cat.

Somehow, someway, some tall, skinny, teenage girl has grown up to teach lessons we never knew we needed.

The best part for me twenty years later?

She wears her boyfriend’s letterman coat.

Now I want to see her wear one of his rings all taped up to fit her finger at the Super Bowl.

That’s when the rest of us know these famous people have it going on for real.

Taylor, wear that class ring, or championship ring.

That’s the closer. Am I right?