How Michael Jackson Helped Little Richard
When Michael Jackson bought the publishing rights to the Beatles catalog in 1985, he was unaware that the Beatles owned all of the rights to Little Richard’s publishing.
▪️Little Richard’s Unfair Publishing Deal
Richard had a deal for a few years before he hit it big with his 1955 hit, “Tutti Fruitti.” Seeing the success of the song and the potential revenue it would generate for years to come, Specialty Records owner, Art Rupe, convinced Richard to sell him the rights to the record. But he lowballed Richard by just buying the song for a reported $50 – despite Richard writing the song.
The terms of the contract gave Richard only half a cent for each record sold. The New York Times notes that once “Tutti Frutti” sold 500,000 copies, Richard earned just $25,000 from it. It was also reported that in addition to the low earnings per record sold, Richard did not receive royalties when his music was used in movies, sampled for commercials, or covered by other artists.
▪️Michael Jackson Buys a Music Catalog that Includes Little Richard’s and Gifts Richard his Publishing Back
Jackson famously purchased the publishing rights to the Beatles catalog in 1985 for $47 million – outbidding Beatles member Paul McCartney! There were 251 compositions in the catalog by the Beatles, as well as music by other artists, including Little Richard’s as Speciality Records’ music was included in the package.
At the time, Jackson was unaware that the Beatles owned all of the rights to Speciality Records publishing, which included Richard’s. Richard spoke of Jackson’s acquisition of the catalog in a 2004 interview with Rolling Stone and explained that Jackson even offered him a lifelong job.
“Michael Jackson owns the Specialty stuff now. He offered me a job with his publishing company once, for the rest of my life, as a writer,” he said. “At the time, I didn’t take it. I wish I had now.”
Jackson was noble and opted to gift Richard his publishing back before Jackson died. It’s reported that he did so for two reasons: he knew the struggles of black artists in Richard’s time and felt he deserved it.