Another week, another blues compilation. And though this 3-CD set features three songs by Howlin' Wolf, I'm not going to get into the same discussion again.
What I'm intrigued about here is how albums like this get compiled and licensed. I bought it in 2001 or 2002, almost certainly because it seemed very cheap (a fiver?), so it would justify itself if there were just a handful of decent tracks on it. Nowadays you get these high-volume-low-cost boxed sets in supermarkets, but they were still relatively new and rare back then, and I was slow to learn the hazards of these apparent bargains (see other mistakes such as this and this).
Not that the recordings are poor. Or the selection of artists, which includes Billie Holliday, Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, Ma Rainey, Dinah Washington, Elmore James, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, BB King, T-Bone Walker and Otis Rush.
But clearly the business model was to license the tracks as cheaply as possible then pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap. I wondered if this was done by using recordings that were more than fifty years old, so out of copyright in the UK, but that clearly doesn't apply to the three songs by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers nor Nina Simone's live performance of Mississippi Goddam in which she name-checks Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
"Licensed from Charly Licensing Aps," it says on the cover. From what I could find on the web, Charly are re-issue specialists, who've been around some time, in different guises. But licensed by whom? "This Compilation © 2001 Planet Media & Entertainment (uk) Ltd." It appears this company was incorporated in 2000 and went into voluntary liquidation less than three years later. Was that because they were legitimate but incompetent or unfortunate? Or because they were a bit dodgy and wanted to scam a few quid quickly before their deals caught up with them?
I have no idea, and I'm not alleging any wrongdoing. I'm just curious about how this licensing of compilations works — or doesn't, as the case may be.
I can't find any trace of this boxed set anywhere on the web. But that may be because, with a title like Blues, it's not easy to google for.
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