Cat Power's Jukebox Is Taking Money Out Of The Hands Of Blues Musicians
Jukebox isn't our favorite album, no. We've mentioned that. And, recent Cat Power performance have been tepid enough that we find ourselves concentrating on the tightness of Chan's band (and Letterman's grip). But hey, this is interesting! Looks like Matador missed a credit for "Lord, Help The Poor And Needy," which on the album's listed as "Traditional, by Jessie Mae Hemphill, arranged by Chan Marshall, Public Domain." Cue San Francisco Weekly...
Via SF Weekly:
Olga Wilhelmine Mathus, a San Francisco-based blues musician and founder of the Jessie Mae Hemphill Foundation -- a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of the northern Mississippi hill country blues tradition -- says the song isn't in the public domain and that Hemphill owns the copyright. Mathus believes Marshall owes royalties to the late singer's estate.
"The money from that song should go to Jessie's estate and be divided up among her relatives, who, much like Jessie, are poor, elderly black people, many of whom are living off welfare," Mathus said. "This isn't anything new. It's unfortunate that most of the originators of blues music died in poverty because of situations similar to this."
We hate to point out that Jukebox probably isn't raking in that much dough, but we will. Continue.
Some might dismiss Mathus' fervor for Hemphill's cause as sadness over the loss of a close friend and musical mentor, but it takes only a couple minutes of Internet searching to discover that "Lord Help the Poor and Needy" is indeed copyrighted to Jessie Mae Hemphill with Broadcast Music, Inc. and the United States Copyright Office.
When asked about the disputed credit on April 1, Matador Records cofounder Chris Lombardi seemed ready for the question. "We made a mistake and credited it incorrectly on the album," he said. "It's actually a Jessie Mae Hemphill song. I think we thought it was a traditional song and had not yet been registered, but her representatives contacted us recently and we're setting up the mechanical royalties now."
Then there's a bit of he said/she said, until we come to the finale.
Even as Matador works to resolve the missing credit, the dispute raises an interesting question: Is the simple payment of publishing royalties enough recompense for copyright infringement? In 1985, blues legend Willie Dixon successfully sued and won credit and royalties from Led Zeppelin after alleging that their 1969 hit "Whole Lotta Love" was appropriated, without credit, from his "You Gotta Be Loved."
So what is ample restitution for infringing on an artist's copyrighted work? Mathus believes money is a good start, but hopes the attention Cat Power's music receives could ignite a spark of interest in Hemphill and her fellow musicians. "I think it's good that someone of Cat Power's visibility covers a song like this, as it makes it more accessible for the more mainstream audience," she says. "A lot of folks were turned on to R.L. Burnside after Jon Spencer came out with a record on him, so perhaps this will turn more people on to Jessie's music, the music of the north.
For Jessie Mae Hemphill's sake, it's just too bad it didn't happen on a Cat Power album people actually care about. Wonder what Charlie Daniels would have to say about this. (By the way, please note we gave Jessie Mae Hemphill a proper tag...)
Posted at 5:03 PM
Tags: Cat Power | Jessie Mae Hemphill
This is one of those "sleazy journalism" stories, compounded by sleazy journalism, that leave me shaking my head. Real story? Record label (publisher? whoever...) makes mistake and credits song erroneously, error is pointed out, label states that it is making amends." Story over. And, rather uninteresting. So, writer twists it unmercifully, and we get this sleazy piece implying that Chan is responsible for perpetuating racism and racial exploitation, and you compound it by throwing in more than a few irrelevant slams in because you don't like her music. Will anybody really believe there was any evil intent here? She did not claim that SHE wrote it.... it was a covers album for God's sake. Maybe its a slow news day... maybe you need to get a real life but...c'mon.
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Someone's overly defensive. There's nothing -- I repeat, NOTHING -- in Stereogum's post, or the portions of the article they (over)quoted, implying that Chan intentionally tried to fudge it and steal the credit. Try reading it without any bias, next time. Geez.
Also, it's funny how fickle the indie world is. A few months ago, Chan was on top of the world. Then, she releases a poor album and starts acting weird onstage, and everyone's dissing the hell out of her. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of her current phase, but it's still kind of silly and unpleasant.
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so am i the only one who likes jukebox?
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sleezy or not, she fucking sucks now
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i like jukebox, and regardless of its place on the album proper, "breathless" is f'ing incredible
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it must have been a typo, a typo, a typo
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mabey i'm a little bias because i saw her perform last night (which by the way was completely amazing) but why all the backhanded comments on jukebox. It's a solid album that translates great to a live show and i must say when i met her after the show she couldn't have been any more gracious or beautiful.
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I really liked Jukebox.
This is a non story, they made a mistake and are fixing it.
The really sad thing is a site like stereogum that mainly covers indie music is trying to take a cheap shot at Cat Power for poor album sales. No shit morons, everyone you ever give press to has shit album sales. Unless you're mocking an established artist for selling lots of albums.
This was a really irritating post but yet another overwrought professional blogger trying to make a big deal out of something that isn't.
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It's strange to read a hint of negativity these days in Stereogum--the third person massive ass-kissing--(up to a point of the reader getting douche-chills)--style of writing is just awful. Hey you don't like Cat Power? understood...but man , I can't wait to read the review of the "Born Ruffians" (or whatever shite band) record next time when their label stops taking out ad space on here.
You've lost the plot Stereogum.
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i just saw her perform last night and she performed it better than i can imagine Jessie Mae Hemphill performing it.
and you might as well give up the royalty money. the whole.... $30 it made
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i wonder how much her fake mole costs. same as the 30 dollar royalty she owes?
Hmmm...
Someone said stereogum has "lost the plot" but I'd have to say Chan has...
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i think stereogum and cat power have both lost the plot. perhaps they should hook up?
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LEAVE..CHAN...ALONE!
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Stereogum is a rediculous joke. Not now, nor has there ever been, any resemblence to "journalism" in the childlike vomit spewed upon these pages.
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It seems like once Matador was alerted to their fuck-up, they amended it w/ integrity. (To those saying the royalty in question is only "thirty dollars", that's not the point. And if it were your song used improperly, you'd want the cash.) It's a bit disingenuous, though, for Stereogum to run Chan's photo w/ this story, considering she had little to do w/ the reported transaction. A more honest way of covering it would have been to feature Matador's logo. This was the label's error, not the artist's.
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ive learned in life that most people who actually have a life keep their opinions to themselves, let alone publicy spewing it because they can. luckily for bloggers we are currently experiencing overpopulation, and the fodder needs to be fed. those who want to play but cant, write about people who do because they can.
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I just checked the album price on Amie Street, and none of the songs from Jukebox has hit 98c yet. It is the most expensive of Cat Power's albums though.
By the way, I'm doing a survey on digital music for a class at MIT. I'm giving $5 free credit on Amie Street to anyone who fills it. Check it out at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=K9zfdPbYagqlxxoUqPWZ6Q_3d_3d
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i like most of the songs on jukebox...and cat power never bores me. stereogum is jsut weird. :)
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Man I don't like Jukebox but its not like her bizarre and uncomfortable stage performances are any different to what it was like before. It seems like just because she's more famous now she's public property and we can suddenly attack behaviour that was considered private and complicated three years ago, possibly even unique. This writer must have had a really bad personal experience with Chan because otherwise this is all a bit low.
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stereogum...you're not worth a thing
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I agree that this is a nonstory but I think it's simplistic to dismiss this as cat power backlash. We're all music fans here. We like good music and dislike shitty music. Chan released a shitty album. Why is it so bad to call a spade a spade? We don't fawn over the musician, we fawn over the music. So cat power released a crappy album. And liz phair released a few crappy albums. We're not hating on cat power by saying her album was sub par. I do genuinely hope she makes something great again. Why is it heresy to be a lover of great music and to be willing to express the opinion that a record by an artist with real talent might just be shitty? We want the greatness of her promise, not the sell out shittiness of her quest for acceptance.
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The real issue here it seems to me isn't the number of days that it took Matador to respond to Hemphill's estate regarding the copyright infringement or the coincidence that the label reacted only after a reporter began snooping around.
The issue here is that Matador did not credit Jessie Mae Hemphill from the outset and thus contributed to the unenviable, unethical and unfortunately historical tradition of ripping off African-American songwriters from the Mississippi Delta who are often poor and without the means to protect their rights as artists.
Ironically enough, in this case, it was a song called "Lord Help the Poor and Needy."
We live in a globalized society, in a world where information is literally at our fingertips. It takes five minutes to check a copyright online, so you gotta wonder how this must have slipped by Matador.
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With so much other good music out there, why the shouting match over Cat Power? The fact that Chan is an erratic hack who puts out crappy records and can't get her act together onstage should be news to absolutely nobody. Not much to see here; move along...
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So Willie... you are basically saying that her not bring credited was done on purpose ? Thats what you are saying.... And that everyone else was credited correctly on this record (and on Cat Power's first cover record back in 2000 as well) but they have something personally against Miss Hemphill ? That makes a lot of sense.. bravo ! you've out nutted all the internet nuts today !
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Also , It be good if Stereogum included the rebuttal from Gerard Cosloy of Matador which could easily be found in the comment section below the SF Weekly article... maybe it was just an "oversight"
Also FYI, Jukebox debuted on Billboard at #12.... just sayin' ...
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this article sounds really snarky and tacky. it makes me want to yell SHUT UP at you.
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i like how there's always two kinds of people who comment on cat power stories here: 1) those who hate her/find her irritating/ used to like her and don't like what she's become or 2) uber-defensive fans who back her up as if she was their own child
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"i just saw her perform last night and she performed it better than i can imagine Jessie Mae Hemphill performing it." - fat ass
and you would assume this why?
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the album has sold 84K copies so far. so it's A LOT more than $30 owed. this money would go a long way in the rural south.
how a label, who has lawyers and people who are in charge of licensing full time, could not find out the correct copyright information is completely retarded. the info is and was right in front of them. likely they were trying to save money and omitted the proper credit/license.
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