Earlier this week, many media representatives began reporting that David Byrne would perform Biz Markie's hip-hop classic "Just A Friend" at the Le Poisson Rouge. And he did. The detail that was missed was that Byrne's performance packed a political message regarding musicians' rights and copyright law.
The performance came at the Artists' Pay for Radio Play, hosted by the Content Creators Coalition. Byrne's choice of cover song was made for (probably) two reasons: 01) It worked well with his vocal style and 2) more importantly, it's a classic example of how a performer gets juked out of royalties from their own performances. The track's classic hook was written by Gamble and Huff, the team behind the successes of R&B groups including The O'Jays and The Spinners.
Because of U.S. law, Markie wasn't eligible for any of the royalty money generated by its countless radio spins, because he didn't write the songs. The same applies to all performers. Katy Perry makes a sliver of the royalties for radio play of her no. 1 track "Dark Horse," but if she hadn't played a role in writing the track, she wouldn't be entitled to earn anything.
A more telling example is that championed by another group with similar goals as Content Creators Coalition. I Respect Music takes its name from Aretha Franklin's hit: The vocalist never received a cent of radio royalties for the track. The payments went to the estate of original writer Otis Redding.
Don't worry about Markie however. He's shifted his career a tad, and is a reoccurring character on the hit children's TV show Yo Gabba Gabba.
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