Lesley Gore Interview

[jobeterob]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXkdhgc3CTU

Listen to how much Money she owed Mercury when they let her go in 1969 - $175,000; and she says she was one of the lucky ones.

[milven]

interesting interview. I would have liked to have seen the Gene Pitney interview too. They both had major hits in the early sixties. It is a shame how they and so many artists wind up with nothing.

[motony]

everything is charged against the artists royalties.

[jobeterob]

She was talking about the little house in the South of France that everyone assumes they will have.

I wonder if Motown was actually easier on their artists that other record companies. Didn't Berry let Martha out of her contract? I wonder at what cost?

[motony]

From what I understand, Richard Perry &/or MCA had to buy out Marthas' contract from Motown.

[theboyfromxtown]

everything is charged against the artists royalties.

It's how it is re-charged that interests me. How do you recharge the cost of a track that is used more than once and many years later as in.....I gotta let you go for Jimmy Ruffin and then Martha several years later.

[jobeterob]

I suppose it is all in the wording of the contract. So when you become Beyoncé, you can dictate all sorts of things for a while. But when you are a starving novice, you sign anything; when you are over the hill and you've overspent, you will sign anything. And then you reach an age where you've got nothing left.

It's not good.

I assume they made Martha/MCA etc., pay for all her studio time etc. in order to get out.

It's no wonder some of these people end up asking Berry and Stevie and Diana for money.

So few got so much. So many got very little.

[theboyfromxtown]

I suppose there's consolation for those artists that recorded fewer songs but which sold commercially albeit not HUGE sellers. Consolation in that they now do get royalties.

[reese]

I assume they made Martha/MCA etc., pay for all her studio time etc. in order to get out.

In Sepia magazine, Martha said that the company also advanced her money to pay for her hospital bills. But once she was on her feet, she had to pay it back.

[jobeterob]

In Sepia magazine, Martha said that the company also advanced her money to pay for her hospital bills. But once she was on her feet, she had to pay it back.

It is easy to see why so many people think something is wrong with corporate America.

As long as the artist knew up front what they were doing, what they committed themselves to, what they were signing away - I suppose that is legal and perhaps fair.

But it would be hard to believe that 16 year old Lesley Gore had much of a clue ~ as she says, she had one hit record and was a kid, they weren't going to listen to her ~ so she got Judy's Turn to Cry! Quite fortunate for her that Judy's Turn to Cry was not a bad song.

All of which equally applies to a 23 year old Florence Ballard ~ what would she understand and know.

[jobeterob]

Here's the interview.

[marybrewster]

I suppose it is all in the wording of the contract. So when you become Beyoncé, you can dictate all sorts of things for a while. But when you are a starving novice, you sign anything; when you are over the hill and you've overspent, you will sign anything. And then you reach an age where you've got nothing left.

It's not good.

I assume they made Martha/MCA etc., pay for all her studio time etc. in order to get out.

It's no wonder some of these people end up asking Berry and Stevie and Diana for money.

So few got so much. So many got very little.

Diana herself lucked out; when she left Motown for RCA, didn't she have a paltry $100k to her name? Or isn't that how the story goes? After 2 decades of #1 hits?

The only millionaires Motown made were the Gordy's.

[jobeterob]

Diana & Lionel have millions; I think Stevie and Smokey do too.

But almost everyone ends up like Lesley Gore.

[edafan]

Diana herself lucked out; when she left Motown for RCA, didn't she have a paltry $100k to her name? Or isn't that how the story goes? After 2 decades of #1 hits?

The only millionaires Motown made were the Gordy's.

I agree

Edafan

[marybrewster]

Diana & Lionel have millions; I think Stevie and Smokey do too.

But WHY do Diana and Lionel and Stevie and Smokey have millions?

Diana, because of RCA.

Lionel, Stevie and Smokey because of songwriting.