Jazz songwriter Kyle Bronsdon observes the fraud tied to the song that introduced blues to popular music with this month's release of "All About the Burn". WC Handy, indie music, media consolidation and reregulation.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 28, 2004 -- Jazz songwriter Kyle Bronsdon observes the fraud tied to the song that introduced blues to popular music with this month's release of "All About the Burn". Ninety-two years ago on September 28th, "Father of the Blues" W.C. Handy shook hands with an agent of Bry's Department Store in Memphis, closing the publishing deal for Handy's composition, "The Memphis Blues". The author was later told that the tune, which had sold a thousand copies in three days, had flopped and he accepted an offer to sell the rights for fifty dollars.
Bronsdon believes this kind of deception has changed only in scope. The drummer organized a meeting between the American Federation of Musicians and artists in Tucson (bereft of a union local for thirty years), and peppers his web site, www.swingdrummer.com, with updates on the looming issue of media consolidation. He was fueled by a national radio study, conducted by the Future of Music Coalition and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, which brought to light the unmet desires of the American public for the content of their airwaves.
The musician says, "If [getting airplay] was ever about merit, or even just plain luck, it sure isn't anymore. It doesn't matter if youre a lifer sideman or a three-chord hobbyist – it's about the public and the process music product they've been force-fed by the same industry that steals away their property while they sleep."
Handy outlived his embezzling publishers, and copyright law at the time (which the industry today has vied to change in their favor with stealthy lobbying efforts) restored his ownership of the piece. Bronsdon hopes the growing number of indie artists, with the help of non-commercial radio programmers, will prevail with their do-it-yourself efforts.
"If one percent of [radio listeners] even had a chance to hear my stuff, and one percent of those people liked it enough to buy a CD, I'd actually be making a modest, honest living. That's the goal of every artist I know. I worked over half my life to become a competent, professional player and I've never asked for more than that. Well," he adds, "health insurance would be nice."
http://www.swingdrummer.com
http://www.futureofmusic.org
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