George Clinton Interview

Where the funk’s my money!?

In a world where digital downloading is on the rise taking money out of the pockets of the very people who make the music, you’d expect their record labels to protect them and have their backs. In all actuality, an insane amount of artists are suing the people they should have been able to trust. The long list of artists including, Eminem, Don Henley, and the legendary man I spoke with this past month, George Clinton, continues to grow, and its being made quite clear… These people are all getting royally screwed… no pun intended.

George Clinton, the influential ‘Funk Master’ and founder of Parliament and Funk, has been battling for over a decade to get what’s rightfully his: hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues, royalties, and payments from “sampling” all from his extensive catalogue.

On the brink of a new tour and rumors of a new album, George was gracious enough to take the time to discuss all of this with me, and discuss more positive things as well. As a journalist I know I’m not supposed to take or express sides, but it’s pretty cut and dry here. George, like so many others, is getting the crappy end of the stick, and with that opinion, I began our talks.

I hate to start off negatively, but what you’re going through is a pretty big deal, and I think it’s something that needs to be talked about. From the knowledge I have, it seems as if, basically, you’re getting screwed.

GC: ::Laughs:: yeah, basically, that’s exactly what it is. I’m grateful to be getting to enjoy everything, and to talk about everything. Most people don’t get to talk about this. It’s so hard to get your point of view out and talked about. It took a lot of hard work to get to be able to talk about this. I’m so glad that you want to talk to me about it!

Members of the band and so many other artists don’t have a clue about the renewal procedures and what’s going on. This is so big, it’s a phenomenon. They’ll think I’m really crazy on drugs for talking about this, which is what they used to say, but for 300 or 400 million dollars, everybody would seem like they’re on drugs.

So where does it all begin? There was supposedly a document signed by you that relinquished all your rights to any profits from songs you wrote and performed, but you allege you did not sign this?

GC: Yes. That document was found out by the two people fighting amongst themselves. (Bridgeport music group and Armen Boladian) None of them can prove that the other cut and pasted that. (Cut and pasted, basically forged, George’s signature onto the document.) And the judge in NY (who this case was originally brought in front of) said they didn’t cut and paste. (This ruling solidified the document, thus making it impossible for George to Claim any right to the music.) Once they settled this in a closed agreement, (Boladian and Bridgeport settled in private talks, who would get the rights to the music George created) that’s how they were able to get it re-registered through the copyright office. They re-titled stuff, added new writers, and took off original writers’ names. It’s a whole, big, no-good deal. It was “convoluted as hell” the judge said. Sleezy lawyers and an uninformed judge. So with that being the case, there’s a long list of things wrong.

So how is it that they were able to actually get away with this?

GC: They over did a lot of it. All in hopes of confusing stuff. (Name changes, cutting and pasting, filing multiple suits, and private negotiations.) Never-the-less, they got the material that’s between Universal music, EMI, Capitol, Sony… it’s these same people working with different people. (Bridgeport and Boladian are selling Georges music anywhere they can. They continue to shop his catalogue all throughout the music industry.) So we found out they (Bridgeport) have been renewing songs of people that are dead. That’s where it becomes criminal. When that takes place, we’re talking about civil rights. (Songs are generally “renewed” to change name of ownership. This can be contested, and fought of course by an artist who doesn’t want their name taken off of a song, but when the artist is dead, obviously it won’t be contested.) They didn’t have to notify us that any of this was happening.

So, people understand at this point that this is basically a conspiracy to the highest extent of the word?

GC: Yes, to the highest extent. They know what they’re doing. We know what they’re doing. It is illegal to re-register music if that person is dead. That music belongs to the family. That music doesn’t belong to no one else.

So bottom line, you’re just seeking to obtain what is rightfully yours, you’re looking to get paid for the work that you did?

GC: Right, Right! We have over 20 people in our band, everybody that works for George Clinton, their family members; they want their names on songs that they’ve written. They’re all looking to get paid for the work they did.

Are there people within your camp that have any animosity towards you at all?

GC: What happened with me and Bootsy and Bernie, the two most important people in my camp, they (Bridgeport) successfully got them against me, to where I couldn’t even reach them to get together and talk. Same thing happened with Eminem and his producer. He asked me, “How do you stay friends with somebody?” Even if the person does something really messed up, you figure out how it got there. Basically, you got to be able to say I’m sorry, I did it, and I’m sorry.

What do you hope comes out of this? Do you see a solution anytime soon?

GC: Oh yeah, I see a solution. I’m too old to worry about getting that much money to do anything with, other than my family and their families, and the families of the band. I want to give something to my kids and grandkids, and the band members. Hopefully the ones who think I did this will see, that I didn’t sign what they say I did.

What would you tell today’s artists, these young kids that are coming into this industry, to avoid this situation?

GC: Study the whole copyright.  Read all the different documentations about renewing anybodies music. Look up anybody that’s dead, see who owns the music, see who renewed it. Check on it now, don’t wait till 15 years later. It doesn’t matter if you died. Your family owns that stuff. I don’t care what you signed. The minute you die, it becomes your family’s music. The law is, as soon as the artist dies, it belongs to the family. It’s as simple as that.

Let’s move on to more positive things, you’re such an inspiration for so many different artists, in so many different genres, which is pretty rare, but who are you inspired and influenced by?

GC: Everybody! A bunch of R&B groups, Motown, Do-wop, The Beatles. Any time you hear parents, or older musicians say, “That aint music,” I hate that. That’s gonna be the next big music. When I hear that, I know that’s the signal, okay, this is the next big thing. It’s like, ‘I got that doo-doo’ you know? I can smell with my ears.

You’re on tour now right?

GC: Yeah, we just got back from Australia, and then we’re going to London. It’s just great to be playing music.

I heard a rumor that you’ll be putting out a new album soon?

GC: There’s gonna be a few new albums. We’re doing the internet thing, a whole album of Motown music. We did all these Motown songs kind of like a “funkadelic” style. We’re trying to work out the logistics, that’ll be on the proboscis. (George’s Website/blog, FunkProbosci.com, check it out!). We’ve got Funkadelic stuff that we’ve been working on. We got all sorts of new records coming out. Got a movie that’ll be coming out, I can’t even begin to tell you what that entails! ::Laughs::

You’ve pretty much done it all, producing, writing, TV, movies, so many awards… what else is left for you to accomplish? What else do you want to do?

GC: We’re planning on putting a movie out about all this stuff I’ve been talking about. On  the experience of finding out about all the copyrighting stuff.

So, is there anything you’d like to say to the people that have stood by your side, maybe your fans in particular?

GC: I promise to keep the funk.

 

~Kacy Norman

***To find out more about George's mission and progress goto Funkprobosci.com



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