Hey John, really enjoyed your note. So much music got lost over the years, over egos and other stuff. MCA is a special case. Semisonic got saved by MCA after an exec at Elektra let us go with0ut spiking our record. If you're a memoir reader (which you seem to be!) I recommend Jake's book, So You Wanna Be A Rock and Roll Star, which tells some of our story. Worth a look at a quite different time.
I read Jake’s book when it was first published, so much I could relate to. One of my favorite books on the toxic 90s record business. For anyone reading this, check it out - So You Wanna Be a Rock n Roll Star by Jacob Slichter. Another great one on the topic of artists getting screwed over by the industry is All I’m Cracked Up To Be by Jen Trynin.
We toured with Jen. Loved her. And Aimee Mann, another Boston gal who was treated shitty by the industry after her Til Tuesday days and was not afraid to let the world know. I'm With Stupid quite resonant with rage. That was the tour we were on... her upset was a visceral.
John, legally what would you suppose would happen if Juliana re-recorded those songs, gave them diffiferent arrangements and titles, and called the LP something else and released it? Perhaps call it "Ship of Theseus". Or, if she performed those songs live and released it as part of a live album?
Is there anyone at MCA who remembers/cares at this point enough to care? Do they even know where the GF master tapes are?
Also, where is "God Bless The Blake Babies" on vinyl?
Hey! At this point she can do whatever she wants with a re-record. The longest she’d have to wait to re-record the songs is about 5 years, and she could use the title, etc. If she delivered artwork then Atlantic would probably own the image. But by the time she was out from under the restriction she’d have moved on. The album she made, the way she wanted it wanted it released, is in the vault.
This is important and relevant to artists in all creative endeavors. The publishing industry has done exactly the same thing and refused to revert rights to authors. Even books by well-known authors that did well are not getting reissues or new editions and are being put in the vaults, those authors' contracts cancelled, only celebs with huge audiences and assured sales getting new or continuing contracts. So a similar story to what happened with Full Moon Fever and God's Foot, which beggars belief given that level of talent.
But I do remember that 90s era well with floods of MBAs taking over the c-suites while knowing nothing about the business, VC capital being spent on sports cars and the high life, while the people doing the work - artists, front-line staff - were considered 'costs' and 'leveraged' to the max to keep stockholders happy. Which has led to the tech bros and oligarchs we have now. Time for a massive reset to reward value creators not value exploiters.
Loved your essay. We saw Juliana play a song from God’s Foot at the Woodward Theatre in Cincinnati a couple years ago and it was stunning to see and hear up close. The quality and quantity of songs in her catalog (including the Blake Babies) is astonishing. Hope that God’s Foot will be released to the world someday. It’s like a great piece of art is being held hostage.
Thanks , John, for advocating for me/us . xoxo
Hey John, really enjoyed your note. So much music got lost over the years, over egos and other stuff. MCA is a special case. Semisonic got saved by MCA after an exec at Elektra let us go with0ut spiking our record. If you're a memoir reader (which you seem to be!) I recommend Jake's book, So You Wanna Be A Rock and Roll Star, which tells some of our story. Worth a look at a quite different time.
I read Jake’s book when it was first published, so much I could relate to. One of my favorite books on the toxic 90s record business. For anyone reading this, check it out - So You Wanna Be a Rock n Roll Star by Jacob Slichter. Another great one on the topic of artists getting screwed over by the industry is All I’m Cracked Up To Be by Jen Trynin.
We toured with Jen. Loved her. And Aimee Mann, another Boston gal who was treated shitty by the industry after her Til Tuesday days and was not afraid to let the world know. I'm With Stupid quite resonant with rage. That was the tour we were on... her upset was a visceral.
(I should read both of these again)
What a nightmare!
Truly
John, legally what would you suppose would happen if Juliana re-recorded those songs, gave them diffiferent arrangements and titles, and called the LP something else and released it? Perhaps call it "Ship of Theseus". Or, if she performed those songs live and released it as part of a live album?
Is there anyone at MCA who remembers/cares at this point enough to care? Do they even know where the GF master tapes are?
Also, where is "God Bless The Blake Babies" on vinyl?
Cheers from Birmingham!
Hey! At this point she can do whatever she wants with a re-record. The longest she’d have to wait to re-record the songs is about 5 years, and she could use the title, etc. If she delivered artwork then Atlantic would probably own the image. But by the time she was out from under the restriction she’d have moved on. The album she made, the way she wanted it wanted it released, is in the vault.
This is important and relevant to artists in all creative endeavors. The publishing industry has done exactly the same thing and refused to revert rights to authors. Even books by well-known authors that did well are not getting reissues or new editions and are being put in the vaults, those authors' contracts cancelled, only celebs with huge audiences and assured sales getting new or continuing contracts. So a similar story to what happened with Full Moon Fever and God's Foot, which beggars belief given that level of talent.
But I do remember that 90s era well with floods of MBAs taking over the c-suites while knowing nothing about the business, VC capital being spent on sports cars and the high life, while the people doing the work - artists, front-line staff - were considered 'costs' and 'leveraged' to the max to keep stockholders happy. Which has led to the tech bros and oligarchs we have now. Time for a massive reset to reward value creators not value exploiters.
Loved your essay. We saw Juliana play a song from God’s Foot at the Woodward Theatre in Cincinnati a couple years ago and it was stunning to see and hear up close. The quality and quantity of songs in her catalog (including the Blake Babies) is astonishing. Hope that God’s Foot will be released to the world someday. It’s like a great piece of art is being held hostage.
Incredible read! Hearing about the injustices of the "old industry" is so fascinating, it seems like it hardly resembles the industry I'm seeing now
Thank you for telling this important story!