"these big Americans sent over this contract..."
Posted on 02/28/2025 10:34:29 AM PST by nickcarraway
Rick Springfield learned firsthand how exploitative the music industry can be to naive young artists.
During a recent conversation with SiriusXM’s Eddie Trunk, the “Jessie’s Girl” singer detailed one of his biggest early career mishaps.
“The music business has always preyed on the young. Absolutely,” Springfield noted. “And I got preyed on when I was like 20 and I signed away my publishing rights because I didn't know any better.”
“I was in Australia and these big Americans sent over this contract and we didn't know about lawyers,” the rocker continued. “I didn't even have a lawyer look at it and I just said, ‘OK, this must be fair.’ And I signed it and realized a couple of years later that they owned all of my publishing.”
Rick Springfield Supports Taking 'All Their Music Back' While Springfield chalked up the experience as “just the way of the world,” he also commended artists like Taylor Swift who have found creative ways to regain control of their music catalogs.
“[It] would always amaze me that I'd spend $100,000 on a frigging video in the ‘80s and the record company would own it,” the singer remarked. “The majority of [the labels] just would shove product down the pipeline as much as they could, until the pipeline choked. That was kind of their approach. So every artist has absolutely their due to take all their music back.”
Springfield released his compilation album Big Hits: Rick Springfield's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. He'll also hit the road for the I Want My '80s tour alongside John Waite beginning May 28.
"these big Americans sent over this contract..."
The Big Americans wished they had all of his music rights.
Bop til you drop
His music career was doing badly, he was thinking of doing something else.
There's nothing more rock and roll than pottery class.
Isn’t he that stinking draft dodger during the Vietnam War?
Well he was Australia, and I don’t even think he moved to the U.S. until the draft was over. What makes you say that?
Was Australian.
it can’t be all bad - he dated Demi Moore when she was the hottest young thing on American TV in the first part of the 1980s.
“There’s nothing more rock and roll than pottery class”
I was in my 20s in the 80s and I can tell you, rock and roll he ain’t.
He thought he could go from soap opera heart throb to the rock scene overnight and other than teeny bopper chicks he did a face plant.
Most of the female rock artists of that day could have probably kicked his ass. Lol!
He wishes he had Jessie’s lawyer.
The thing is, there were probably another hundred guys just like Rick back then. The record company could have signed any of them, it’s take it or leave it. You sign the deal, hope you make it big, so you can move on and sign a bigger contract. But if you don’t sign that first contract, it will never happen. The record companies have you by the balls.
I think that’s unfair. His first top 40 hit was in 1971, he was a musician for years before his success. Long before he did any acting.
Billboard 2017-——This week, Paul McCartney filed a lawsuit in a New York court against publisher Sony/ATV in an effort to regain his ownership stake in the Beatles publishing catalog in what could become one of the biggest legal struggles in recent music history.
If successful, it would end a long and painful battle for McCartney over the ownership of his own songs, one that has involved everyone from early Beatles manager Brian Epstein to Michael Jackson, who bought the Beatles catalog in 1985 as part of a $47.5 million deal for ATV, a situation that has long been painful for McCartney.
Though the fight has been ongoing for decades, it can be confusing to track the ownership of one of the most valuable catalogs in music history, and particularly how one of its main contributors was cut out of his own creations. Below is a brief timeline of the long and winding ownership tale of the Beatles catalog over the years.
1963: In March 1963, the Beatles’ debut album Please Please Me was officially released, and Epstein sought a publisher for the songs written by McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The company that resulted was called Northern Songs, majority-owned by publisher Dick James with Epstein, Lennon and McCartney, with the latter two songwriters owning 20 percent of the business apiece.
snip
Yes, they were both on General Hospital together.
When I was in college the four girls who lived in the apartment across the hall were all into GH. As were lots of other coeds. It was a good conversation starter.
Hey, I’m just telling you whatci saw first hand.
His music in contrast to real rock bands of the day like REO, Cheap Trick etc. was lightweight IMO.
Pop artist yes.....rocker....no
dfwgator........there were probably a hundred guys just like Rick back then.
The record company could have signed any of them........ it’s take it or leave it.
You sign the deal, hope you make it big, so you can move on and sign a bigger contract. But if you don’t sign that first contract, it will never happen. The record companies have you by the balls.
True even for major headliners like the Beatles,
FO Rick
It’s the entertainment “Business”
You’re lucky you don’t make a living singing at funerals and birthday parties..
Saw him in concert at Cedar Park, TX a few years ago. He’s a jerk and the concert sucked. Bad.
“I was in Australia and these big Americans sent over this contract and we didn’t know about lawyers,” the rocker continued.
Wow, I didn’t realize that Australia didn’t have lawyers in that era.
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