Posted on 08/02/2007 7:16:47 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
Cox Radio Possible Racist Remarks Spark Fury:
It wasn’t tough enough for Judy Collins and Sam Moore, two famous and popular singers, to testify in front of a Congressional committee on Tuesday about the need for a performance royalty on radio stations. (Singers on hit records aren’t paid when a record is played on the radio; only the writers are.)
Now Robert Neil, the head of Cox Radio, which owns 80 stations in 18 markets, has infuriated them with what some consider to be racist remarks regarding their right to earn a living. And R&B legend Moore, for one, is demanding that he be fired.
Neil said: "I saw the (congressional) testimony yesterday, and the reality is a lot of those people would be sitting in a shack somewhere in a small town if it wasn't for the fact that radio supported their music when it was coming up.”
Moore is furious. He feels the term “those people” is pejorative. At first he wanted an apology. Now he wants Neil's head. Cox Radio owns R&B stations and oldies stations that Moore says have made their money from black artists for 40 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Sam Moore is actually the former President of Thomas Nelson Publishers...who sell Bibles and mostly Evangelical books. He’s actually Lebanese and his real name is Sam Ziady...
Is that the Sam Moore they’re talking about??? ;)
That’s disappointing, just like hearing the same about another singer from that era, Dusty Springfield.
That’s disappointing, just like hearing the same about another singer from that era, Dusty Springfield.
Lesley Gore is “gay”? Are you sure? I saw her three times and love her. Wait, her last name is “Gore”. Then she has to be “gay, Jewish, a veggan, wiccan, bald, Rastafarian, and abino” because the Gores are all things to all people.
Judy Collins is “white”. I saw her close-up in a coffee-house (remember those?) in 1969, unless she is now running for a political office (then all bets are off as to what race or color she would claim to be). Love “Clouds”. She has one of the best voices in folk music, barr none. (Not barr Nun, as in Dominique).
Sam Moore - a great entertainer. Saw him a few years ago with Gary US Bonds, the leader singers of Foreigner, Journey, etc). If he worked for Berry Gordy, then that’s who he should be suing. Gordy paid many of his singers a straight fee, and no royalties (until, I believe a class action lawsuit was filed against him by almost everyone he sponsored at MoTown).
There were a lot of poor white singers/writers who also didn’t get paid beyond the selling price of their songs. No royalties, etc. This would probably apply to many of the early Bluegrass, Country, and R&B singers (of all races). And they came out of “shacks” from the hills of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, and Chicago.
I support a royalty system for a writer and a singer if it is not part of their recording contract, though I think a time limit should be imposed, say 20 years.
However, I don’t think that radio stations should be made to pay it. Many would go out of business (and the bookkeeping would kill you).
PS: Just saw George Thoroughgood and the Destroyers last night (made up for missing them several years ago).
Some of the best “rock” I’ve ever heard. The guitars “sang”, the sax “wailed”, and the drums “beat”.
Long live rock and roll. It will never die (though I think that some of the Rolling Stones did die years ago but through the miracles of bionics, makeup and computers, they still keep on “truckin’”).
Oh wow, that would be one great story to listen to. Is your friend still a picker?
She was an awesome talent. May she rest in peace.
I don’t know who your friend is, but I’ll bump any post with Cowboy Jack. He was one producer who knew how to treat his artists (including studio musicians).
Next thing you know, the word "they" will be too.
I love your response. I didn’t know Judy Collins was black either and i really don’t know who Sam Moore is. And I really, really didn’t know Leslie Gore was gay.
Remember, Bill O’Riledup is watching you!
Hey Bill - Go pith yourthelf.
Oh that is so cool! Either she should write those stories down or perhaps would allow you to record her telling them. The background behind what went on in the studios during the recording of those monster hits are priceless to fans."...She says Elvis was a gentleman and a professional, Albert King was a class act as is Percy Sledge, and Cowboy Clement crazy as a bedbug but a character."
That is wonderful news! :)
It was great meeting 60s R&B session guitarist Cornell Dupree and listen to some of his stories.
One of the nicest musicians I ever met was Hank Ballard. Hank was still writing new music, still performing locally doing his old tunes from the 60s and he had recently met the love of his life, a lovely woman whom he married a few years later. Sadly she lost her life getting hit by a car while crossing a street and then Hank passed away not too long ago. May they both rest in peace.
I would have liked to back up Dusty Springfield too.
The phrases “those people” and “you people” are considered “racist” by the grievance lobby.
I am so sick of hearing blacks complain. I am all “blacked out.”
This makes me really sad - I wish Sam hadn’t done this. He is still an awesome performer to this day. (I think he gets a little push or shove from his “white guilt” wife.) I am pretty disturbed by this, because the thing that makes the SoundExchange business stand out as really weird is that they’re demanding something that terrestrial radio has never paid. (And something that has always made me feel terrestrial radio is the real beneficiary of this whole thing - eliminate the competition from internet radio by slapping them with a fee terrestrial radio doesn’t have to pay.) When you’re a performer of Sam’s magnitude, knowing that you still get heard (and if you’re a writer, get paid) allows you to work, be remembered, maybe get something licensed to a movie or commercial and get even more work - all of which I consider good things. I am involved with an artist who gets payments through SoundExchange (not much still coming to him through writer’s royalties) but the one thing I am sure of, is if they push through all the things they are trying to, all those who play the lesser known artists are the ones who will have to stop, and it will mean only the handful of top artists will be getting this as well - it will cut out the very people who need it most.
:)
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