I watched a loooong documentary about Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers over the past couple days. It went from the origins of the group to 2006. We lost Tom in 2017. And I can't understate what a loss his passing was. He was just 66 and had many years of creativity left before him. I swear, I could do another post about chronic pain and physicians overmedicating. sigh I've lost friends and family to pharmaceutical fuck-ups.
Tom Petty was one of those artists whose musical presence existed through most of my life. I mean...he was always there, and he was always profoundly excellent...and was consistently true to his own voice, even as music trends changed. Yet he always evolved, always kept his standards high and not only changed music, but had an effect on the industry and on culture.
As inevitably happened, Petty and the group signed a predatory contract at the beginning of their career, right after their self-titled album was released in '77/'78. Petty's original label was Shelter, and they sold out to MCA. Petty felt like his career was also being sold, and in reviewing the new contract, he discovered that MCA owned his publishing rights. He quickly realized it wasn't sheet music, but the songs themselves. So he did some legal research, filed bankruptcy for the band and took MCA to court.
At the time, they were recording music for their second album. The first album was a solid success and MCA didn't want to let him go. They wanted his music, and they wanted him. And in a terrible decision, the court determined that MCA could go to the studio and seize all the current tapes the band was currently working on.
Petty called a friend and set him to mis-labeling the hundreds of tape boxes and after a session was over, that person would move the new tapes to an undisclosed location. That way, Petty could testify under oath that he didn't know where they were.
Record labels were (and are) a powerful force, but Petty and his band were immovable. He never backed down. (sound familiar?) and he eventually won. But MCA still wouldn't let the band go, so they created a label that was exclusive to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The terms were favorable. The second album was "Damn the Torpedos" and was a massive, MASSIVE hit. And yes, the title of the album was symbolic.
When it came down to fighting for his musical rights, he fought and won when even Paul McCartney kept losing the Beatles catalogue. Later, Bonnie Raitt started working for old Blues artists to get the royalties for music that was stolen from them. And of course, Taylor Swift's battle for the rights to her catalog is a major victory for her. And after many years, Paul McCartney eventually recovered the rights to his own words and music.
As a writer, this absolutely makes me feel sick.
Over the years, I've signed quite a few book contracts and I confess, I didn't really look too closely at the terms. I was briefly agented, and primarily, my agent reviewed the contracts. That probably saved me some complications. Now I'm content being my own publisher. I own my own words. I'm not a New York Times bestseller, but I own my creativity.
But change is always happening. In the past, you HAD to have an agent to submit to a publishing house, and now, that requirement is largely a thing of the past. I confess, I would love to be back with a publisher. Contracting the editing, art, marketing...ugh. Just let me write and give me my check, ok?
But it's not that simple. In many cases, we sign away our creativity when we sign a contract. I changed a lot in books like When I Fall because of publisher requirements. My Doms of Dark Haven novellas lost thousands of words and plot elements in editing. When I got the rights to those books back, I was able to restore that content. I got to add Griffin's POV in An Uncommon Whore, as well as more vital scenes. And in my newest novella, Alpha, Actually (part 2 to come) I didn't add a love scene till the end...and it was pretty vanilla.
I can do what I want to. Except kill the hero. Or the dog.
I'm not saying self-publishing is the only route to go. Some self-published authors are hugely successful. Some achieved success and carried that clout back to publishers, allowing them to negotiate better terms. The rest of us? Well, I kept my day job. I've had huge paydays, and paydays that were pennies.
Like recording, the book industry is just that...an industry. We get inundated on advice from POV to writing to market, to AI, to new trends and terminology. We're faced with predatory contracts, unscrupulous publishers, plagiarists. Too often, it's just us with our asses hanging out in the wind, blinking in confusion and wondering how we got here.
And yet...writers are artists. And we need to create through all the chaos.
Tom Petty said he created best when he was happy. He clearly wasn't in the "suffering artist" camp. I'm the same way. When I'm not worried, I'm writing. Or in therapy.
There were so many take-aways in that documentary, but the big one: Cover Your Ass. If you're offered a contract, hire someone to review it. Publishers aren't charities. They want your creativity and your words, with the least amount of cost and effort on their end. Know what you want, what you need, and get experts to help you out. Protect your work. There are writer's organizations that offer advice on all this.
Don't let them devalue because of your gender or ethnicity of religion or the genre you write. Don't let them gaslight you. We already do that to ourselves.
The safer your work is, the more secure you will be. Then you'll be happier, and your creativity will flourish. It's like the Hierarchy of Needs. Take care of the survival stuff and you can self-actualize!
Daily Affirmation 2025: Do One Thing
Writing goal of the day: Earn enough to hire a PA