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39-601: Bridgeport Music is a music publishing company founded in Michigan by Armen Boladian in 1969. It controls the copyrights to recordings by George Clinton and Funkadelic . Bridgeport Music has filed lawsuits for copyright infringement via sampling against hundreds of defendants under the federal copyright statute, 17 U.S.C. , leading to them to being often described as a "Sample troll". Among others, Bridgeport has sued for sampling infringements in popular music produced by Public Enemy , N.W.A , Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G. -

78-462: A publishing contract , a songwriter or composer "assigns" the copyright of their composition to a publishing company. In return, the company licenses compositions, helps monitor where compositions are used, collects royalties and distributes them to the composers. They also secure commissions for music and promote existing compositions to recording artists , film and television. The copyrights owned and administered by publishing companies are one of

117-678: A case in which the jury awarded Bridgeport more than $ 4 million in damages. On May 4, 2001 in Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. 11C Music , 202 F.R.D. 229' (M.D. Tenn 2001), Bridgeport Music filed a lawsuit alleging infringement of its copyrights in several sound recordings and musical compositions through sampling. It was seeking declaratory judgement, injunctive relief, and damages in around 500 different claims against approximately 800 defendants. The court decided that these cases should all be tried separately, which resulted in 477 individual cases. Notable cases include: There has been some controversy over

156-405: A fixed fee per recording rather than the hourly rate that was standard then and now, and did not take a fixed payment from mechanical royalties. To compensate for his risks and to recognize his contribution to creating the song, Petty was often listed as a cowriter of the songs he produced, and the songs were published by his music publishing company, Nor-Va-Jak Music. ... No doubt Petty took risks as

195-719: A fraction of what it was worth – or earned in the following years. A large factor in the Beatles' breakup was when their publisher Dick James sold his share of Northern Songs , the company they'd formed with him in 1963 (then taken public in 1967, with shares trading on the London Stock Exchange ), to Britain's Associated TeleVision (ATV) in 1969. Neither the Beatles nor managers Lee Eastman and Allen Klein were able to prevent ATV from becoming majority stockholders in Northern Songs, whose assets included virtually all

234-474: A given artist or writer, financially and emotionally. R&B legend Little Richard was largely cheated on his music publishing and copyrights, as were many performers. Brian Wilson and Mike Love of The Beach Boys were crushed to learn that Murry Wilson (father to three of the Beach Boys, Love's uncle, and the band's music publisher) had sold their company Sea of Tunes to A&M Records during 1969 for

273-727: A number of Canadian recording artists, including Wes Dakus and the Rebels, Barry Allen , Gainsborough Gallery, and the Happy Feeling, all of whom had chart success in their homeland. Norman also produced sessions in England for artists such as Brian Poole & The Tremeloes and Buddy Britten, and in Belgium for Roman Reed, Merino Costa, and The Pebbles , among others. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, recordings produced by Petty, in various musical styles, were issued by virtually every major record label in

312-586: A possibly more pragmatic response: "My first impression of him was of a person ultra-eager to succeed. He wore a T-shirt and Levis. Really he was unimpressive to look at but impressive to hear. In fact businessmen around here asked me why I was interested in a hillbilly like Holly, and I told them I thought Buddy was a diamond in the rough". Petty was asked by Holly to act as the band's "personal manager after " That'll Be The Day " started to break in July 1957", although he "signed no management contract with either Buddy or

351-467: A role in the management of the intellectual property of composers. The term music publisher originally referred to publishers who issued hand-copied or printed sheet music. Examples (who are actively in business as of June 2019 ) include: In the music industry , a music publisher or publishing company is responsible for ensuring the songwriters and composers receive payment when their compositions are used commercially. Through an agreement called

390-588: A young age. While in high school, he regularly performed on a 15-minute show on a local radio station. After his graduation in 1945, he was drafted into the United States Air Force. When he returned, he married his high-school sweetheart Violet Ann Brady on June 20, 1948. The couple lived briefly in Dallas, Texas, where Petty worked as a part-time engineer at a recording studio. Eventually, they moved back to their hometown of Clovis. Petty and his wife, Vi, founded

429-465: The Crickets[,] who were therefore free to leave whenever they wished". "In addition to taking control of Holly's career and finances, he added his name to the songwriting credits — a dubious but not uncommon practice in those days". Other sources claim that this "was unusual for the 1950s, but today is quite common and even the standard practice in some genres." Petty "was an innovative producer who charged

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468-643: The Fireballs , and "Wheels" by the String-A-Longs were recorded at Petty's studio in the 1960s. Due to the success with instrumental groups, Petty was a reputable producer for bands of that genre and his Clovis Studio was one of the top "go-to" studios for the guitar instrumental (surf) sound in the early 1960s. Notable musicians who visited during the 1960s were The Champs (featuring members Seals & Crofts and Glen Campbell ), JD Souther (& The Cinders), Johnny Duncan , and Eddie Reeves . Petty produced

507-560: The Norman Petty Trio , with guitarist Jack Vaughn. Due to the local success of their independent debut release of " Mood Indigo ", they landed a recording contract with RCA Records and sold half a million copies of the recording, and were voted Most Promising Instrumental Group of 1954 by Cashbox magazine. In 1957, their song "Almost Paradise" hit number 18, and Petty won his first BMI writers' award. The song had various cover versions released, with Roger Williams' version selling

546-1053: The Petty estate and the Holly heirs a combined $ 251,325 in additional royalties". Petty purchased the Mesa Theater on Main Street in Clovis in 1960. In 1963, he launched the FM radio station KTQM starting as an easy-listening station, later switching to country-and-western music, and then in 1968 to top-40 rock. The country genre had local appeal, so he applied for a new station license and started KWKA 680 AM in 1971, airing country-and-western music. Petty ran both stations until 1979. The stations were sold by Curry County Broadcasting to Zia Broadcasting in 2010. Petty died in Lubbock, Texas , in August 1984, of leukemia . Later in 1984, he

585-498: The Petty estate to display during studio tours. The original 7th Street Studio is available for tours by appointment only. The King of Clovis , a book about Petty by Frank Blanas, was published in 2014. Blanas argues that Petty's reputation as "arguably the No. 1 villain in the Buddy Holly story" has been exaggerated, and claims that he "drove royalty rates higher so everyone could share in

624-528: The United States and Canada, with numerous regional successes. Petty produced the majority of Buddy Holly 's studio recordings from 1956 through 1958 at his Clovis studio, with the remainder being recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York. According to Petty, he took an "immediate liking to Buddy from the very first moment" they met, although in an earlier interview with journalist Norman Mark, he had delivered

663-516: The best. Despite the success of his own records, Petty began construction of his Clovis studio in late 1954. The new studio was state of the art, estimated to have cost around $ 100,000 (US$ 1,134,572 in 2023 dollars ). "Throughout his life, Petty remained a member of the Central Baptist Church in Clovis, a religious man who advised all of his acts to carry a [B]ible with them on tour and forbade alcohol and cigarettes (and even swearing) within

702-569: The classes of 1945 and 1946, respectively) by the Clovis Municipal Schools Foundation and Alumni Association in April 2011. The awards are presented to Clovis High School graduates for achievement in their sphere of business; the recipients are chosen because their strength of character and citizenship, to serve as models for today's CHS students. The plaques were given to Vi's relative Nick Brady, who turned them over to Kenneth Broad of

741-422: The composer. Music print publishers also supervise the issue of songbooks and sheet music by their artists. Traditionally, music publishing royalties are split seventy/thirty, with thirty percent going to the publisher (as payment for their services) and the rest going to the songwriter or songwriters. Other arrangements have been made in the past, and continue to be; some better for the writers, some better for

780-407: The group's song copyrights. Losing control of the company, John Lennon and Paul McCartney elected to sell their share of Northern Songs (and thus their own copyrights), while retaining their writer's royalties. ( George Harrison and Ringo Starr retained minority holdings in the company.) Norman Petty Petty was born in the small town of Clovis, New Mexico . He began playing piano at

819-413: The meeting, "Elena did all the talking. She said, 'Buddy and I have decided that Buddy can do better — that you're not fit for Buddy's manager.' And I said, 'What's this — is it something I've done?' She said, 'It's what you haven't done — you haven't done near enough for him.'" Petty would recall the split rather more amicably, claiming that "When I asked Buddy if there was anything that I had done to cause

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858-411: The money has been widely shared by various authors, artists and, subsequently, the general public. The fact is, though, that many in the 1950s record business were mobsters, racketeers and money launderers. Most writers forget that there were key middle men between the retailer and Clovis. Norman, as a small independent music businessman, was often dealing with professional crooks with known mob ties[,] and

897-453: The most important forms of intellectual property in the music industry. (The other is the copyright on a master recording which is typically owned by a record company ). Publishing companies play a central role in managing this vital asset. Successful songwriters and composers have a relationship with a publishing company defined by a publishing contract. Publishers also sometimes provide substantial advances against future income. In return,

936-440: The music industry. The most unscrupulous type of music publisher is the songshark, who does little if any real "legwork" or promotion on behalf of songwriters. Songsharks make their profit not on royalties from sales, but by charging inexperienced writers for "services" (some real, such as demo recording or musical arranging , some fictional, such as "audition" or "review" fees) a legitimate publisher would provide without cost to

975-480: The producer and deserved greater compensation for his efforts, but his percentage of performance royalties was greater than Holly's[,] and the question is whether this was more than Petty deserved. Those who would defend Petty's greater share would point to the fact that Holly and the Crickets did not produce any hits before they recorded with Petty in his ... studio." Larry Holly, Buddy's brother, acknowledged that "Norman

1014-432: The profits; it was a 'win or lose together' mentality that made hit records and, in theory, should have been successful for all involved. But Norman never foresaw an industry of record bootlegging, freebie promo abuse, plugging payola and slush funds. Royalties were consumed in the form of bourbon, danced away on the laps of DJs, pilfered through organized rackets, spent on gifts for executives ...". The idea "that Petty stole

1053-566: The publishers. Occasionally a recording artist will ask for a co-writer's credit on a song (thus sharing in both the artist and publishing royalties) in exchange for selecting it to perform, particularly if the writer is not well known. Sometimes an artist's manager or producer will expect a co-credit or share of the publishing (as with Norman Petty and Phil Spector ), and occasionally a publisher will insist on writer's credit (as Morris Levy did with several of his acts); these practices are listed in ascending order of scrupulousness , as regarded by

1092-436: The publishing company receives a percentage, which can be as high as 50% and varies for different kinds of royalty. There are several types of royalty: Publishers also work to link up new songs by songwriters with suitable recording artists to record them and to place writers' songs in other media such as movie soundtracks and commercials . They will typically also handle copyright registration and "ownership" matters for

1131-611: The rights of the George Clinton and Funkadelic catalogs. Clinton himself has claimed that the rights to the musical works were obtained fraudulently, by using a forged document from 1983 dealing with the transfer of the Malbiz catalog of songs. Music publisher (popular music) A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music . Music publishers originally published sheet music . When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play

1170-512: The slowness with which record-companies, in particular, paid out artists' royalties." In 1958, after "Holly suffered disappointing sales for such tunes as " Rave On " and " It's So Easy! ", he grew resentful of Petty's control. The cash-strapped musician and his new wife, Maria Elena [Santiago], visited Petty at the studio to end their partnership, and seek his unpaid royalties." Santiago insisted that Holly get his "finances in order" before she would marry him, stating: "I don't want to sit around all

1209-520: The split – I think the question was answered by his wife that time. It wasn’t necessarily anything I had done, I had not done enough to exploit Buddy, the world did not know enough about Buddy Holly. I was not doing a competent job of promoting him as an artist. That to me was the basic reason. ... [A]s far as musically speaking goes, I don’t think there ever was a rift between Buddy and myself". The remaining Crickets, Joe B. Mauldin and Jerry Allison , chose to remain with Petty. After Holly's death, Petty

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1248-492: The studio complex." With the success of "Almost Paradise", the structure was completed in mid-1957. In his original 7th Street studio, aside from songs for his own musical group, he also produced singles (several which were hits) for West Texas musicians Roy Orbison , Buddy Knox , Waylon Jennings , Charlie "Sugartime" Phillips, Sonny West , Carolyn Hester , Johnny "Peanuts" Wilson, and Billy Walker . Sizeable hits such as " Sugar Shack ", " Bottle of Wine " by Jimmy Gilmer and

1287-552: The time, waiting for handouts from Norman Petty." She "recounted that Petty told his young protege, "You know what, Buddy? I'm gonna say this to you. I'd rather see you dead than to give you the money now." According to Santiago, Petty "tried to break us up ... He told Buddy not to marry me because I was a whorish kind of woman, that I'd slept with all kinds of other men who'd come in to Peer-Southern. Buddy knew that wasn't true, of course. He got so mad, he wanted to leave Norman right there and then." According to Petty's recollection of

1326-490: The writer, as part of their job. (By comparison, a bona fide publisher who charges admission to a workshop for writers, where songs may be auditioned or reviewed, is not wrong to do so.) Rock-n-roll pioneer Buddy Holly split with longtime manager Petty over publishing matters in late 1958, as did the Buckinghams with producer James William Guercio almost a decade later. John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR)

1365-444: Was at their mercy in the same way as exploited artists." Petty's Nor-Va-Jak record label was revived in 2016 as "Nor-Va-Jak Music", with authorization from Norman Petty Studios, for the purpose of reissuing Petty productions that were not previously available in digital form. Previously, many Petty productions had been issued on CD in the UK by Ace Records. Petty's legendary 7th Street Studio

1404-632: Was posthumously named Clovis Citizen of the Year. His wife, Vi, died in March 1992. She helped start the "Norman and Vi Petty Music Festival" in Clovis in 1987, which ran until 1997. It featured many artists who had recorded at the Clovis studio and also popular hit makers. Robert Linville requested the name from the Chamber of Commerce and started the festivals again from 1998 until his death in 2001. Norman and Vi were given awards for "Outstanding Graduate Accomplishment" (in

1443-408: Was put in charge of overdubbing unfinished Holly recordings and demos at the request of the Holly family, which resulted in chart success overseas. In 1999, Holly's widow, Maria Elena, along with Holly's siblings, filed a lawsuit against MCA Inc. in which she alleged that Petty "conspired with MCA to defraud the Holly heirs." It was eventually determined through extensive auditing that "MCA owed

1482-479: Was responsible for getting Buddy out." However, Petty was also accused of withholding "royalty payments to Holly", who eventually found out that the band's "recording royalties had not been banked under their name but under Petty's." However, at the time, "records sold in shops for between just sixty-nine and eighty-nine cents each, while the royalty was often as low as one cent per side." While "unable to deny that they were due sizeable sums, Petty kept on stressing

1521-399: Was sued by his former publisher Saul Zaentz (who'd also served as his manager) over a later Fogerty song that sounded slightly like a CCR song Zaentz published. (Fogerty won in court.) Several bands and artists own (or later purchase) their own publishing, and start their own companies, with or without help from an outside agent. The sale or loss of publishing ownership can be devastating to

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