Thanks for the link, very interesting.
What a read. Same pitiful song when it comes to heritage r&b acts. At least the heirs got a small bit of victory in this case. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing
Very interesting story about Johnnie Taylor and his royalties. Given all the rip-off stories that we've all heard about favorite recording artists, I'm not surprised that the Taylor Family isn't happy with the money that they did receive from Sony Music.
I would think they would get more from the Stax stuff, which would be whoever bought Gulf/Western....would it be CBS?
I would think the Stax material would generate the most royaties, Although "Disco Lady" was such a MASSIVE HIT but I never remember any other his CBS records.Glad his daughter was persistent.
I would agree. DISCO LADY was definitely his biggest hit. But afterwards, he went on to have a few more hits on the soul chart but nothing like the success he had on Stax.
Similar to what happened to the Staples when they left Stax. They went on to have a massive hit with LET'S DO IT AGAIN but after that, not too much.
Really interesting and informative article. What a quagmire the issue of royalties is! No wonder the heirs have trouble navigating those murky waters. It’s designed to be entirely in favor of the record company.
As to the specific Taylor contract, it might be true that even though he had more hits in his early days, he was a bigger name when he was signed to CBS and might’ve had a much greater share of royalties contractually from any releases than he did while on the Stax label. I don’t know, I’m just speculating. But certainly he was a hotter act when he negotiated the contract with a major label with a lot more access to distribution in their releases, which I think is what ultimately led to the downfall of the Stax label.
Last edited by kenneth; 11-06-2021 at 09:12 AM.
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