John L Posted January 30, 2022 Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 (edited) I am looking for advice from some of you who know the music business a bit. When I was living in Nigeria, I became close friends with a musician named Steve Black. In the 1970s, Steve Black issued a record in Nigeria called Village Boogie. One of the songs on that album was called Band New Wayo. In 2013, Blue Note records released an album by Robert Randolph & the Family Band that contains this song. It is identical to the song written and recorded by Steve Black. They did not even change the name. The Robert Randolph album did quite well but Steve Black did not receive author attribution for the song or anything else. Steve Black is currently in Lagos, has extremely limited financial resources, and want to seek redress. Would someone happen to know who is the best person to contact in Blue Note Records for such a matter, or any other good advice that we might give Steve Black? Steve Black is a very good man and talented artist who deserves much more than life has given him. I would love to see him succeed in this. Edited January 30, 2022 by John L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted January 30, 2022 Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 If he didn't register a copyright claim somewhere (at the time), he is probably out of luck. Then you are relying on someone's "good will". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted January 30, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 Thanks, Chuck. Does that mean it would be otherwise considered to be in the public domain? It seems a bit strange that Robert Randolph can legally take authorship of a song that came on record before he was even born. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted January 30, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 Steve Black says that he did not copyright the song but registered it in 1978 with the Performing Rights Society in London. Would that account for anything in a legal battle? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 30, 2022 Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 Have somebody get to this Robert Randolph guy, see what happens with that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted January 30, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 1 hour ago, JSngry said: Have somebody get to this Robert Randolph guy, see what happens with that Yes, if anyone could help with contact information For Robert Randolph, that would be great. There is no contact information on his webpage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted January 30, 2022 Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 Just ask Jorge Ben how he handled it when Rod Stewart plagiarized him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 30, 2022 Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 https://www.redlightmanagement.com/artists/robert-randolph/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 30, 2022 Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 Expect evasion, if anything. And who knows, maybe the song got to Randolph with no ID. But still...Black deserves some kind of credit, especially if his 1978 registration has surving documentation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted January 30, 2022 Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 Damn, hope this gets resolved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted January 30, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 2 hours ago, JSngry said: https://www.redlightmanagement.com/artists/robert-randolph/ Wow. Thanks. Somehow, I didn't find that page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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