The worst recording contracts in music history
Bad deals are sewn into the very fabric of the music industry. For as long as recorded music has been profitable, artists have suffered at the bands of crooks and scoundrels. If the long history of exploitative recording contracts surprises you, wait until you hear these tales of fraud, exploitation and negligent representation.
Sometimes, artists are caught out by the simplest mistake: not reading the small print. Then again, there are several cautionary tales of artists misjudging the people they were entering into a contract with. Then there’s cases like the Jackson 5, who were simply too young to realise they were being exploited.
While some of these stories have become the stuff of legend, we shouldn’t forget that the music industry continues to exploit its artists. Countless musicians are shafted every day, many too young or too desperate to realise their mistakes. Of course, being an established artist doesn’t automatically mean you’re safe: Taylor Swift was recently forced to re-record her early albums after her former record label sold her back catalogue for a reported $300million.
In this list, we’ll be exploring some of the worst contracts in music history, from money traps engineered by fraudulent businessmen to raw deals from the heyday of rock ‘n’ roll.
The worst record contracts in music history:
Badfinger
Badfinger were the first band to sign to The Beatles’ UK label Apple Records. Lacking any US representation, they decided to sign a separate management contract with a notoriously shady businessman called Stan Polley. This turned out to be the worst decision of Badfinger’s short-lived career.
The band hooked up with Polley in 1970. Attracted by his shrewd business style, ability to secure six-figure deals for his clients, and previous experience managing world-class music acts, Badfinger rushed to get him onboard. On becoming their manager, Polley quickly began taking advantage of Badfinger, drawing up a contract that meant all their advances were paid directly into his bank account. This allowed him complete control of the band’s finances, and Bandfinger saw little of the money they earned from record sales and live concerts. The contract crippled Badfinger, with frontman Pete Ham naming Polley directly in his suicide note
Little Richard and Chuck Berry
Early rock ‘n’ roll labels really knew how to give their artists a raw deal. The contracts may have sounded good at the time, but there’s a sense that Chuck Berry and Little Richard didn’t realise how successful their two-minute recordings would be in the long run. Little Richard’s 1955 song ‘Tutti Frutti’, for example, was a massive hit for Speciality, but his contract with the label meant that almost all of the profit went into founder Art Rupe’s pocket. Rupe paid Richard just $50 for the publishing rights to the track, which landed the musician a half-cent for each record sold.
Chuck Berry had a similar experience when he released ‘Maybellene’. Despite being responsible for the hit, Berry was the last person to see money from it, with DJ Alan Freed and Chess Records creditor RussvFrato, neither of whom were songwriters in any shape or form, taking a share of the songwriting credit. Berry took the case to court and eventually secured full writing credit for ‘Maybellene’.
Billy Joel
In 1971, Billy Joel signed a ten-album recording contract with Family Productions. Things started to go wrong almost immediately. Joel’s first album, Cold Spring Harbor, was produced by label boss Artie Ripp, who managed to master the album at the wrong speed, giving Joel a squeaky falsetto. The singer asked for the album to be re-mastered, but Ripp claimed that to do so would cost too much money and released it anyway.
Having signed away his recording and publishing rights, Joel was powerless. He was forced to submit to Ripp’s will and watched in horror as the critics panned the album. Joel was only able to exit his deal with Family after Columbia Records bought out the contract in 1972. Six years later, Columbia head Walter Yentikoff purchased Joel’s publishing rights from Ripp and gave them to him as a birthday gift.
The Stone Roses
In July 1990, Manchester’s The Stone Roses released ‘One Love’, their last original single for four years, with the band entering a long legal battle to terminate their contract with Silvertone Records. Under the terms of the contract, Silvertone had the right to license any merchandise it wished without the band’s approval. It also included a clause stating that The Stone Roses were the property of Silvertone along with “the entire world and the solar system”.
After the success of their debut album, The Stone Roses’ relationship with Silvertone soured. The label’s parent company, Zomba Records, took out an injunction against the band, preventing them from signing to another label. The court eventually sided with The Stone Roses, releasing them from their contract with Silvertone and paving the way for their long-awaited second album.
Van Morrison
Early in his career, Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison was invited to New York by Bang Records owner Bert Berns to record his first single.. Morrison agreed and recorded ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ after quickly scanning through and signing a lengthy contract. By signing, he’d unknowingly agreed to record not one but 36 songs within a year of it coming into effect.
Bert subsequently released Morrison’s debut album, Blowin’ Your Mind!, without his consent. The first the singer-songwriter heard about the album was from his friend, who had picked up a copy in the local music store. Morrison didn’t have much time to be angry: Berns perished unexpectedly at the end of 1967. Morrison subsequently launched a contract dispute with Berns’ widow Ilene Berns, who banned him from performing on stage or recording in the New York area. In an attempt to exit the contract legitimately, Morrison recorded an album of deliberately awful songs. You can read more about that here.
