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According to Parton, the deal fell through when Presleys manager demanded 50 percent of the publishing revenue.
Its a juicy bit of industry history that speaks more to our current reality than you might think.
Emily Warren knows this all too well.
Emily is a songwriter and performer in Los Angeles.
What happened to Dolly in 74 has happened often to Emily.
Together they resolved to do something about the practice.
Their goal is to make the music business more equitable for the creative laborers.
you’re free to listen here and read an excerpt below.
Very few artists are really in their bedroom, playing piano, and writing the song by themselves.
They do co-write a lot of their songs, but almost every artist takes outside songs.
And its kind of like no one wants you to know that.
Did you?I didnt give any publishing up.
Ive been called difficult so many times for standing up for myself.
Like, lets just keep this moving.
I, as a person, cant agree to that.
Its like an actor in a movie being like, I want a piece of the screenwriter share.
Its like, why?
Youre being compensated as the actor.
It would be so crazy if an actor did that.
And its been going on for so long.
Its just a function of the industry that weve all accepted.
And it was just time to shed a light on it.
How have songwriters responded to the Pact?Immediately there was a community.
Immediately we were talking about this thing and everyone was sharing stories.
Weve been clear in the messaging for songwriters, and well continue to be.
One of the obvious power dynamics is you dont want to point fingers and name names.
Theyre not the ones necessarily going out and demanding this.
So that was one reason.
Everyone has asked for publishing.
Everyone has given publishing.
Every single person that has signed it is a hypocrite in some regard.
But heres the situation: Were not going to agree to this anymore.
Going forward, if you bully someone into publishing, were going to name names.
So you have a chance to make this right.
That being said, if the current practices continue, its going to be a totally different vibe.
Which we all know.
This has been an educational moment.
Im not going to do this moving forward.
Have you heard from the artist manager who sent you that email?No.
Its hard, right?
But I know that thats not right.
Being called difficult is something that Im down with now.
But very few people are in that position.
