There are so many great reissues that have come out in the last few months! Bands like Crumbacher, Undercover, Bloodgood, Vengeance Rising and so many more have had new life breathed into them and come out of the gates swinging with extra tracks, t-shirts and even some bands playing again live! I have been curious for a good bit of time about who owns what, will there be re-releases, and how the whole ball of wax comes together. I was talking to Brian Healy one day and asked him about it the Frontline re-issues, he told me to catch up with Joey Taylor and he could probably help me out. Thankfully, Ojo was all in and was more than happy to explain the whole thing. In addition to having Undercover’s Branded album reissued, Taylor has also been busy playing another reunion show in January, teaching and now he is also heading up the artist relations department at Meis Music Group.
Who actually owns the Frontline catalog?
As far as I understand things, Frontline was acquired by a gentleman by the name of Buddy Killen a while back. Buddy died some years ago and the catalogue is now owned by the heirs of his estate. I did not know Buddy, and I have no ownership interest in this, but have agreed to get involved only because I know so many of the artists, many of whom were working at the same time we were, and I know and believe in the main people involved in the re-release and I thought this was a good cause all the way around.
What was behind the decision to re-release at this point?
I think there was a situation where there were all of these great album masters and songs basically sitting around not doing any good for anyone. At the same time once the whole digital distribution thing started spreading and file-sharing and all, many of the albums were being illegitimately sold and shared online and when that happens, even if it’s being done by the artists themselves, there are people who should be getting paid who aren’t. That list could include the artists themselves, the rightful owners of the masters, people who may have played on the album who are entitled to a royalty, songwriters, and publishers. I know that there are sites that make Undercover’s catalogue available, for example, and we don’t get paid for those sales. So legitimacy was a driving factor.
Second, once the decision was made to re-release the catalogue, my long-time friend Adel Meisenheimer who used to work at Maranatha! Music and then as an independent publisher and administrator for many, many other labels including Brainstorm, was called in to oversee things. The new catalog is being released on her imprint, Meis Music Group. There was a genuine desire on everyone’s part not only to release the catalogue and make money, but to put this in the larger context of serving the artists and using these releases to further their ministries and careers, whatever that might happen to be for each artist. The first contact we made with everyone had this purpose at the forefront. So it had a future component to it too, not just backward-looking, historic or nostalgic.
Third, underlying all of this is the idea of good stewardship. Legal ownership cannot simply be usurped. The legal and rightful owners, writers, publishers, artists, distributors and other rightful partners are the ones responsible for overseeing the legitimate sales of the music and they are the ones entitled to compensation. I know most of the fans don’t realize or understand the legal and business side of how this works, but when music is distributed illegitimately, even when it looks official or is done by the recording artists themselves, there are people whose economic and legal rights are being infringed on. The rightful owners and administrators are also forging alliances with other partners to find more ways to market the music, get it placed in television and film for example, so stewardship is another important driver.
Will the entire catalog be re-released?
I don’t know that every single title will be released, but most of them will be. Even as we speak, most of the titles have been put into the system digitally and are available on iTunes. Another component of this of course is making sure all the illegitimate distribution channels are ordered to take down their unauthorized streaming and downloading operations. Again, sometimes that includes the artists and their websites themselves. Not always, because some of the artists like Tourniquet, genuinely own their whole catalogue. There are other artists who legitimately own their own stuff too. At least going forward people can trust that the music they buy from the Frontline artists and other artists who may contract with Meis Music Group is being sold legitimately and that the right people are getting compensated for those sales.
How will this actually affect the artists themselves, will they see any of the money?
Yes, the artists will see money, some of them for the first time. The decision was made in most cases to wipe out recoupment accounts (money the artists have to reimburse the label for, for recording costs and other loans and advances they may have received, before they can receive royalties) and increase royalty rates so that the artists could start receiving money right out of the gate, from the first record sold, and at a rate higher than they would have under their original deals. It was a generous, genuine, and unilateral act of good faith by the owners and administrators of the label.
Will all releases be pre-orders as the first few have?
No, not all. Only some of the titles are being made available in CD format. Most will be distributed and marketed digitally.
Do you own all the rights to the Broken/Brainstorm catalog?
When I left Brainstorm Gene and I kind of divided up the pie, so to speak. There are a number of titles from the Broken / Brainstorm catalogue that I own and the rest Gene’s estate owns. Some of that will be re-released legitimately. Branded for example, is being re-released this month as a 25th Anniversary Special Edition on Innocent Media, the label I started after I left Brainstorm, administered by Adel and Meis Music. I think over the next year a number of those Brainstorm titles including all the Undercover stuff will see the light of day again also. Gene’s father and I have a good relationship and the same motivation for legitimacy and stewardship holds for both of us as well.
Who does actually own the rights to Adam Again’s catalog?
That’s a good question and I’m not sure I’m the right guy to answer that one. As far as I know, Gene sold all the Adam Again masters to Buddy Killen a long time ago. I don’t know if that included all of the Adam Again records or just a few. There are some Adam Again recordings though, like The Broken Christmas, owned jointly by Gene’s estate and me, that were not part of that sale. The ones you see come out on the Meis Music Group imprint though are the ones that they own and again, people can trust that those are legitimate sales.
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I want to thank Ojo for taking the time out of his super busy schedule to fill us in on what is happening with the reissues. This does however bring me to a very valid concern that I would like to address. The music that we cover here at Down The Line is important to so many people. The industry has typically been slanted towards the label, especially years ago when the whole business was so different. These are important artists, important releases and a lot of work has gone into these albums for a long time. PLEASE, do what is right and purchase these albums. Don’t rip, burn, copy and share these with your friends. It is long past time that these artists get the proper compensation due for their work and their art. It is a different day and age when it comes to technology, but use the available tools for something positive and help to put the money back in the pockets of the artists.
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