Didier wrote:dave robinson wrote:the artistes deserve the royalties and it's right that they should continue to get paid.
The Shadows don't have any recording royalties on EMI releases, they only have author's royalties for tunes they composed themselves.
I don't think that's correct, Didier. The Drifters' contract with EMI in 1959
definitely allowed for a royalty (one old penny - £1/240 - per 45rpm disc) and it is not credible that this situation, which started when they were unknowns, would have been changed for the worse after the success of
Apache. Of course, there are currently no artiste royalties legally enforceable on
Apache or anything else released before 13/09/1961, but it's a safe bet that EMI are still paying The Shadows (and Cliff) on discs sold by that particular company. None of the supermarket specials will be paying though (which is the whole point of a recording no longer being in copyright).
Didier wrote:This is the reason why they didn't renew their contract with EMI in 1980, as EMI refused to grant them recording royalties as they did for some other artists (as Bruce Welch explains in his book). They then signed with Polydor (now Universal), and re-recorded in 1989 twenty of their old hits for Polydor for the "At their very best" album. Of course they have royalties on Polydor records ! This is why the "Life Story" complation used the 1989 Polydor re-recordings of old hits, rather than the EMI original recordings...
Didier
Actually, the Shadows aren't signed with Polydor and never really were. They have a deal with their own recording company and that company has had deals with Polydor over the years. But not only with Polydor. Rollover has released its material through EMI in some territories (notably Australia, where the Shads stayed on EMI until the mid-80s at least). In essence, Rollover now takes opportunities to licence its material as they arise.
Around 1980, EMI UK had a company policy (perhaps only a temporary one) of not entering such agreements and it was a question of "Record for EMI - take it or leave it". There were press items at the time in which the negotiations were hinted at, though none of us really expected a change of address.
Best wishes,
JN
Posted: 12 Sep 2011, 16:43
