Comments on: Dick James

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 02 May 2017 19:32:54 +0000

Mr. James’ first name (well his nickname) says it all about him and his company.

By: Tony_M_1956

Tony_M_1956 — Mon, 01 May 2017 15:14:11 +0000

You can’t be half pregnant, or half screwed. James screwed John and Paul and pulled the wool over Brian Epstein’s eyes. That is what the Men In Suits always do. Capitalism at it’s worse. It’s like what Lennon sang, You want a Revolution, then count me out……In. Substitute Capitalism for revolution and you get the picture. Epstein’s management skills were basic at best. He wanted to manage the Beatles because he fancied John Lennon. During Epstein’s weekend away with Lennon, Lennon said, “it wasn’t consummated,” but in effect, both he and McCartney were already screwed. Epstein’s untimely death revealed what a right mess the management of the Beatles was in, and if my memory is correct, Paul McCartney had not signed the management contract. Royalties only became important when the hits kept coming, and the money rolled in. What irony that James sang about Robin Hood, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. The Beatles were screwed throughout their career, and the Men In Suits enriched themselves on the talent of others.

By: Mark Hornak

Mark Hornak — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 20:52:21 +0000

My man, no publisher in history ever got 100% The publisher should never get more than 20% Go check out songs by Sammy Cahn, Hoagy Carmicle. James was a rip off even in those days. It was Brian Epstein’s fault. You don’t have a clue to what you’re talking about. Who in the hell ever told you a publisher gets 100% ? They saw you coming too !

By: Mark Hornak

Mark Hornak — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 20:43:15 +0000

It was still a bad deal regardless and it was held over their heads for yrs. A publisher only gets 20% now and it took yrs of court rulings to get that. Brian should have never gotten a penny for song writing royalties. Period. NEMS was created because of the Beatles’ success and they never got a dime of that !

By: Mark Hornak

Mark Hornak — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 20:38:36 +0000

George Martin, to his everlasting credit, refused a percentage by James for sending the Beatles his way and although he never said out right, he hinted that he thought the Beatles got screwed and was glad he “could sleep at night”

By: cravinbob

cravinbob — Sat, 13 Feb 2016 00:29:46 +0000

Hindsight is always 20/20 they say and if there is a case to prove it here it is. John and Paul made a lot of money regardless. Had it been a badly written contact or they signed under duress a court probably could have negated it somehow. It is hard to do all the work and songwriters need publishers for the most part as there are many ways to market songs and receive payments. John later hired Allen Kline who was a crook from day one so John apparently learned nothing but Paul did. So much for “genius”!
Artists are not really into financial dealings as we all know. Willie Nelson took his problem in stride saying he knew he was successful when he learned he owed the IRS 16 million dollars. Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote and performed “Working For MCA” for their record signing party. The song’s lyrics warned the suits that they were going to be watched and count every penny! Most bands never realized that hotels and limos etc was coming out of their end of the deal! Even artwork on album covers! One band’s manager refused contracts like that and forced the company to foot the bill for everything, the notorious and often brutal Peter Grant who managed Led Zeppelin. Grant had four aces and the record company knew it.

By: Robert lamont

Robert lamont — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 18:33:20 +0000

As one around at that time in another Tin Pan Alley publishers office, I totally agree with your comments regarding ownership of songs. Songwriters normally got 50% of royalties and the music publisher the remainder but retained total ownership of the song for the full term of copyright then 50years after death of the last writer. To give a share of the ownership was unheard of, that was to follow a few years later. We had Gordon mills and les reed under contract for “Its not unusual ” on a 50/50 and as Gordon became more successful we increasingly adjusted our percentage and ultimately ownership of songs with him. Interesting how people forget the different values we had in those days

By: Gary McAuley

Gary McAuley — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 23:35:52 +0000

It is patently false J&P didn’t understand profits of songwriting when they signed an agreement with Dick James. They had already received a number of royalty checks based on “Love Me Do” by that point; pretty handsome money at that given what they were making on stage, and this was not money being shared with George or Ringo. It was strictly J&P’s money.

To rewrite history that J&P in late 1962/early 1963 “didn’t know” you could own a song – is incorrect.

By: Gary McAuley

Gary McAuley — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 23:08:18 +0000

What’s not stated here is that Dick James gave J&P an extraordinary deal in 1962…normally songwriters owned NONE of their own copyright. And J&P hadn’t even had a Top 10 hit as yet.

And it certainly needs to be stated that Dick James aggressively worked on behalf of the Beatles. It was money in his pocket to do so, and he certainly did, getting them television exposure in the early days as well as calling all his radio contacts and simply giving the Beatles and Brian Epstein his office to use anytime they were in London.

An average publishing deal in 1962 would have had Dick James owning 100% copyright of J&P’s songs. He didn’t do that. Give him some credit.

By: Joseph Brush

Joseph Brush — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 01:16:14 +0000

Previous to the Beatles, there had been other robberies in rock n’ roll concerning song-writing as far as publishing (and claims of co-authorship as well). Artists such as Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and Chuck Berry, for instance, suffered from one or both of the enterprises I mentioned above.
Since the Beatles triumph was only equalled previously in rock n’ roll by Elvis Presley, there was no comparable measuring stick that existed. Unlike Elvis, the Beatles were successful song writers.
Brian Epstein’s main experience in music before signing the Beatles was in managing a local record store. When Northern Songs was created, Epstein had only managed the group for about a year and a half. His contributions in that time frame was obtaining more gigs, putting them in suits and his undying belief in the Beatles. These contributions were integral to the Beatles’ success.
In retrospect, however, his woeful lack of knowledge in dealing with London sharpies cost John and Paul dearly (and George as well to a lesser extent).

By: Whacko

Whacko — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 20:32:41 +0000

It was a standard deal for the time. As a for example: Justin Hayward got a princely £10 note for the rights to “Nights In White Satin”.

By: Douglas MacGregor

Douglas MacGregor — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 05:30:56 +0000

I can not believe Epstein let the boys do that deal. UNBELIEVABLE!!

By: NEIL

NEIL — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 11:50:46 +0000

The article states that James worked hard on behalf of the group. The only thing he and his cronies worked hard at was in enriching themselves at the Beatles expense.

By: mike hampton

mike hampton — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 20:05:26 +0000

It just goes to show the sort of sharks there are in the music business. I think it’s criminal that John and Paul never owned any of their songs.It’s like having your babies taken away from you.If they’d been offered a decent lawyer the situation would have been sorted out and they wouldn’t have been sxxt on by unscrupulous music moguls who didn’t care about them anyway.