troubleman84
Proud Member
Now that's strange!
I still say Michael should fight for at least HIS songs from the catalog, lol. Like make a deal with Berry that he and his brothers see a good amount, nix that, a great amount of money from royalties from the classic songs they made between 1969 and 1975.
I remember the controversy when Berry initially sold the label to MCA in 1988. Smokey Robinson had to leave Motown because of that. I guess it was a pride thing with Smokey since he partly co-founded the label with Berry and Raynoma Singleton (Berry's ex-wife). Other artists like Diana Ross and 'em tried to warn Berry about selling the label.
I think after Berry sold it for, I think it was $80 million, a lot of the past Motown artists sued for royalties for songs they recorded with the label from Kim Weston to Marvin Gaye's estate to members of the Miracles, the Marvelettes, the Vandellas, Mary Wells, the former members of the Temptations, etc. I was surprised that the Jackson brothers never were part of that list since they were obviously "wealthy" from the Epic sales and the world tours they had but I still feel if the Jacksons had fought for royalties from the Motown recordings...and actually WON, they wouldn't have to make big announcements about reuniting. Sure they love each other but the root of reunions is they need the money or at least publicity with enough excuse not to do their own music because they're afraid of sales potential.
Then when Michael sued Universal for his Motown catalog (I think he sued to get not only the masters from their albums and songs but also he wanted the brothers to retain ownership of the Jackson 5 name after a 1980 settlement) in 2003, he was the only one who was really saying something about it and they dropped it, probably because he felt he could do it on his own. I feel if he was a powerful businessman and he learned so much from Berry, he could've shown Berry that he upped his stance in business.
I don't know if Michael gets the same amount of royalties Diana Ross and Martha Reeves get for having their names in front of the Supremes and Vandellas alike. I hear the only reason Florence Ballard's family went on a tirade against Diana on her book was because they were running out of money that was supposed to go to Florence's children's trust funds (Diana probably still was sending them money) and the only reason Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong backed out of the reunion tour with Diana was because they weren't offering them the same amount of money as Diana was. Mary says she can make millions doing concerts but she doesn't have to do that, she could've sued for royalties too, Florence's family can sue for royalties, Cindy can sue even if she wasn't singing on the post-Florence late sixties Supremes hits but she was on hits like "Stoned Love" and "Floy Joy" but the fact that the Supremes, Four Tops and Jackson 5 were left out of the suing Universal for Motown rights actually confuses me.
Motown Records sold over a 100 million records between 1961 and 1988 and it saddens me that people like those groups and the Funk Brothers and the Andantes and the Originals don't get money from songs they were on yet other people like Smokey and Stevie are living off the hog from Motown sales since Smokey got his masters a long time ago and Stevie won back his masters not too long ago.
Plus with all the samples the Jackson 5 recordings get, least we should KNOW if Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael are getting a substantial amount at least from performance rights royalties but then that offers less money than actual rights can give you.
I still say Michael should fight for at least HIS songs from the catalog, lol. Like make a deal with Berry that he and his brothers see a good amount, nix that, a great amount of money from royalties from the classic songs they made between 1969 and 1975.
I remember the controversy when Berry initially sold the label to MCA in 1988. Smokey Robinson had to leave Motown because of that. I guess it was a pride thing with Smokey since he partly co-founded the label with Berry and Raynoma Singleton (Berry's ex-wife). Other artists like Diana Ross and 'em tried to warn Berry about selling the label.
I think after Berry sold it for, I think it was $80 million, a lot of the past Motown artists sued for royalties for songs they recorded with the label from Kim Weston to Marvin Gaye's estate to members of the Miracles, the Marvelettes, the Vandellas, Mary Wells, the former members of the Temptations, etc. I was surprised that the Jackson brothers never were part of that list since they were obviously "wealthy" from the Epic sales and the world tours they had but I still feel if the Jacksons had fought for royalties from the Motown recordings...and actually WON, they wouldn't have to make big announcements about reuniting. Sure they love each other but the root of reunions is they need the money or at least publicity with enough excuse not to do their own music because they're afraid of sales potential.
Then when Michael sued Universal for his Motown catalog (I think he sued to get not only the masters from their albums and songs but also he wanted the brothers to retain ownership of the Jackson 5 name after a 1980 settlement) in 2003, he was the only one who was really saying something about it and they dropped it, probably because he felt he could do it on his own. I feel if he was a powerful businessman and he learned so much from Berry, he could've shown Berry that he upped his stance in business.
I don't know if Michael gets the same amount of royalties Diana Ross and Martha Reeves get for having their names in front of the Supremes and Vandellas alike. I hear the only reason Florence Ballard's family went on a tirade against Diana on her book was because they were running out of money that was supposed to go to Florence's children's trust funds (Diana probably still was sending them money) and the only reason Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong backed out of the reunion tour with Diana was because they weren't offering them the same amount of money as Diana was. Mary says she can make millions doing concerts but she doesn't have to do that, she could've sued for royalties too, Florence's family can sue for royalties, Cindy can sue even if she wasn't singing on the post-Florence late sixties Supremes hits but she was on hits like "Stoned Love" and "Floy Joy" but the fact that the Supremes, Four Tops and Jackson 5 were left out of the suing Universal for Motown rights actually confuses me.
Motown Records sold over a 100 million records between 1961 and 1988 and it saddens me that people like those groups and the Funk Brothers and the Andantes and the Originals don't get money from songs they were on yet other people like Smokey and Stevie are living off the hog from Motown sales since Smokey got his masters a long time ago and Stevie won back his masters not too long ago.
Plus with all the samples the Jackson 5 recordings get, least we should KNOW if Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael are getting a substantial amount at least from performance rights royalties but then that offers less money than actual rights can give you.
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