MUSIC-JAMAICA: Showdown Over Reggae Royalties

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Howard Campbell

KINGSTON, Apr 7 1998 (IPS) - Two pioneers of reggae are headed for a showdown over the question of royalty payments that has dogged the music scene since Jamaica introduced its new copyright law in 1993.

Producer Clement “Coxsone” Dodd is contemplating legal action against recording magnate Chris Blackwell for royalties Dodd claims the founder of Island Records owes him over a 30-year period. Dodd, arguably reggae’s greatest producer, charges that Blackwell has failed to honour an agreement the two signed in the early 1960s for Blackwell to distribute music bearing Dodd’s Studio One imprint in England.

According to Dodd, 62, Blackwell has continued to distribute and earn from the songs although the agreement has expired. Dodd estimates that some 400 songs were licensed under his JAMREC Publishing company.

“The bulk of them are from 1962 to 1993, and I have received no mechanical rights,” Dodd affirms, adding the total amount powed is substantial – “we are talking about millions.”

“I plan to take legal action against Chris, I have received advice on the matter. But he can avoid that because he has made so much money off my records he can afford to compensate me,” Dodd says.

Artistes involved would also benefit from any form of compensation, he says, but that statement carries little weight with performers like Leroy Sibbles who has had a longstanding feud with Dodd over royalty payments.

Sibbles, who claims Dodd owes him “millions” in royalties, was one of the chief songwriters at Studio One. He was also lead singer of the Heptones, one of the most prolific acts at the Kingston studio during the 1960s. “Even if he sues Blackwell and is successful nothing will change,” says Sibbles. “He has received money from other companies in the past and never paid anybody.”

Since Jamaica’s copyright law was legislated in 1993, Dodd’s name has never been far from controversy. Several performers have charged him with being delinquent on royalty payments, among them Sibbles, and singers Bob Andy and Ken Boothe.

All have threatened legal action but Dodd says that would be unjustified: “A lot of them think that I have been collecting a bag of money but that is not the case,” he says.

Dodd has benefitted from other companies using his work over the years, including Donovan Germain’s Penthouse Records. Penthouse had sampled several of Dodd’s music from the 1960s making hits for a number of dancehall acts including star deejay Buju Banton. The company ended up paying Dodd and Andy 13,000 dollars in 1994.

The New York-based Dodd is looking for similar success against Blackwell, the man credited with launching reggae internationally. He is looking for compensation for songs Blackwell reportedly covered long after their distribution deal of the 1960s had been terminated.

Possibly the most noted of the batch of songs is “One Love,” first recorded by the Wailers (Bob Marley, Bunny Livingston and Peter Macintosh) at Studio One during the early 60s as a ska song. Marley later covered it on a reggae format in the 1970s when he was signed to Island.

“One Love” has since become an international standard and has been used by the Jamaica Tourist Board as a theme song for that government agency’s promotion campaign.

Like Dodd, Blackwell figured prominently in the development of Jamaican music. He started Island Records in Kingston in 1959 and by the time he moved the label’s operations to London in 1962 he had become heavily involved in the distribution of ska music from Jamaica to the underground market in England. But Dodd revealed that Blackwell, who was recently fired by Polygram International, Island’s parent company, has continued to distribute other JAMREC material, including songs by Toots and the Maytals and the Skatalites.

In celebration of Island’s 40th anniversary in 1997, the label released “Balls Of Fire,” a Skatalites set featuring songs the legendary band first recorded during its heyday at Studio One.

Since Blackwell’s sacking, Dodd has reportedly met with Polygram executives to discuss royalty payments owed to JAMREC since that company assumed ownership of Island in 1989. Dodd describs the talks as “satisfactory.” But performers like Leroy Sibbles remain sceptical. He believes Dodd’s latest court battle, if successful, will be beneficial to the producer alone.

He still has plans to sue Dodd but says he is unable to afford the cost of what would likely be a drawn-out legal case. And he does not expect Jamaica’s copyright system to make their plight less painstaking.

“If it’s properly administered something can happen but it’s still young so anybody benefitting from it will be the younger performers,” he says.