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Lisa Davis: What I mean is that one of the only ways in which African Americans have been able to create wealth in this country is through the creation of intellectual property—music, writing, artwork, things of that nature. Historically, particularly in the entertainment industry, there’s been a practice of people not understanding the business side and therefore not maximizing their wealth. Whether it’s Jimi Hendrix and the way a manager who snatched all kinds of rights from him or jazz musicians who didn’t control their copyright. My feeling was, this is an area where black people create wealth. If they are advised and protected, maybe they can keep it.
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Oh, well, [laughs] that’s a huge topic right now. That’s something that as a lawyer, unfortunately, I can’t protect—that’s a cultural dynamic that has to do with a larger dynamic in our society. So how does it play into it? I’ll give you an example. Let’s say you are an African American songwriter and you’ve written an early rock song. If you don’t control the publishing, then when Pat Boone does his cover or Elvis does his cover, you don’t get any money for that. However, if you retain your copyright even though you can be angry about the cultural appropriation, at least you’re profiting from that. The reality is that Elvis’s version of something is going to sell more. Like with “Hound Dog,” [Big Mama Thornton] sang it first. If she wrote that and retained the publishing, at least she could have continued to profit from it.Now, like with rock and the blues before, a lot of white artists are making hip-hop—
Iggy Azalea.Exactly. How do you account for the lost monetary potential of young Black artists if others seem to have so much more commercial appeal?
I don’t know how you account for it. First of all, with hip-hop, the biggest consumers are suburban kids who are not African American. So if there’s a woman artist who's not African American, they’re not going to say, "Well, this isn’t our thing." They’re going to say, "Well, this is fun or interesting too." I think it’s just about protecting folks. It’s a very challenging time for anybody to be in the music business, as you’ve heard. But protecting people along with progress so that whatever money they are making they’re able to keep.
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Genres of music cannot be owned, unlike individual compositions, so there is no legal mechanism to protect rap artists from cultural appropriation. The best “protection” is to have a diversity of critical voices opining on the artistic merit of the music and also making sure that those who are given a platform are knowledgeable about the history of the genre they are critiquing. In terms of hip-hop artists’ ability to protect their assets, that comes down to having the right team of lawyers, managers, and business managers who will take affirmative steps to safeguard their assets and maximize their earning potential. No one is immune from market forces, so there is no way to “guarantee” a certain amount of income. But creative managers can look for ways to expand their commercial opportunities, and savvy lawyers and business managers will endeavor to help artists keep their money. An example, not from hip-hop, though, is the venture capital fund set up by Carmelo Anthony to invest in tech start-ups.As an entertainment lawyer, have you noticed a lack of opportunities for African American artists?
I think that that’s always a problem. I work in film and television and theater, and I think there’s always less opportunity for people of color than there has been for white artists. That has startlingly been the case. In some ways, because the demographics of the country are changing, that may change in a different, but better, direction.How so?
I think there’s a little buying power of blacks and Latinos, particularly because, if you combine blacks, Latinos, and Asians, it’s about 35 to 37 percent of the population. When we talk about people under 18, it’s a majority minority. So what appeals to that group can potentially sell, like, double platinum.You’ve worked with artists like Public Enemy and Redman. Have they ever spoken to you about this?
Oh my goodness, yes. But a long time ago, so I don’t want to put anything out there. I think it’s more what you say, not exactly a particular artist, but when you look at Black Twitter you see how we feel about cultural appropriation. People put it right out there.Follow Lauren on Twitter.