Blues Musicians Due Dollars From Digital Performances

Found this on about.com, and thought this was worth a post. Not sure how much these royalties might or might not be, but it's money owed, so they should get it!

The technology news site P2P.net published this article recently about Sound Exchange and the millions of dollars of royalties being held by the organization on the behalf of musicians that can’t be found. A number of blues musicians are among those artists that the non-profit claims that they can't find. Discover who these "lost artists" are, and let's help Sound Exchange find 'em and pay them the money they're owed!

What Is Sound Exchange?

Sound Exchange was formed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the music industry's lobbying arm, as a non-profit organization. Sound Exchange's primary reason for being is to collect royalties from the digital transmissions of sound recordings and then pay these monies back out to artists and record labels. For example, Sound Exchange collects royalties from satellite radio stations like XM Radio and Sirius that play recorded music; from cable and satellite television (Muzak or MusicChoice channels); and from Internet radio stations like Pandora.

Lost Musicians

There's just one problem - Sound Exchange can't find many of the musicians that they're supposed to pay royalties. On the organization's website they include a list of over 8,000 of these "lost artists," musicians and bands that are due money. Although Sound Exchange claims that they're currently paying royalties to some 31,000 artists, some critics claim that the number of "lost artists" might actually be as high as 40,000 musicians.

Among the thousands of artists that are due unclaimed royalties from the performance of their music there are a number of blues and R&B musicians. Your erstwhile guide has pored through 88 pages of names to dig out the below-listed pearls:

    * "Big" Mike Griffin
    * Blind Willie Johnson
    * Brownie McGhee
    * Chicago Rhythm & Blues Kings
    * David "Honeyboy" Edwards
    * Freddy King
    * Guitar Slim, Jr.
    * Homesick James
    * J.B. Hutto
    * Jessie Mae Hemphill
    * Johnny "Yard Dog" Jones
    * Keri Leigh
    * Mark Selby
    * Mason Ruffner
    * Nappy Brown
    * Omar & the Howlers
    * Preacher Boy
    * Rising Sons (Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder)
    * Roosevelt Sykes
    * Shuggie Otis
    * Sleepy John Estes
    * Slim Harpo
    * Smokin' Joe Kubek
    * Son House
    * Sunnyland Slim
    * Super Chikan
    * Tarbox Ramblers
    * Tarheel Slim
    * Willie King & the Liberators

This is just a small list compiled from thousands shown on the Sound Exchange website. Some of these artists, like Willie King or "Honeyboy" Edwards, are still active musicians while others have sadly passed on years ago. Regardless, these individuals or their estates deserve to receive the royalties due them.

All recording artists are strongly urged to get in touch with Sound Exchange and see if you're owed any money; and if you haven't registered with the organization, you should do so as soon as possible so that you, too, don't end up "lost."

http://www.soundexchange.com/