Do you want to know how the music business works? Traxploitation gives you an insider's view of the industry. All the dodgy deals and shady tales with details you won't find anywhere else.
Who is Traxploitation?
I'm Wayne Bennett, I have nearly 30 years of music industry experience, starting as "Tape Op" at Motown UK in the early '90s and working my way up the ranks at various studios as an engineer, record producer, and an artist in my own right.
I have produced and/or co-written over 500 songs and engineered thousands of others. In 2016 I took on a role at one of the world's largest Collective Management Organisations for recorded music copyright. There I discovered that many people have little or no idea how the music industry really functions, this includes artists, managers, and independent record labels. I set up Traxploitation later that year to try to remedy that. On this channel I use real-life stories to shine a light on the shady side of the biz.
Yeah definitely the Technotronic sort of stuff... Planet of the Bass is a bit more mid 90s euro trash inspired... made me think of something like this ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-r6FVk2k4qsM.htmlsi=6aU0Xk3mQpoTMyTt
Wayne you're not giving up are you? Please don't give up, i know it's hard. I really do but i hope you can streamline your process and get more content going. Would AI help you? You have much to offer, please don't quit on us. I hope you are well ❤
The judge’s comments re Greg Ham not testifying as a witness - that he could infer certain things - would be a constitutional violation in the United States, namely the Fifth Amendment and the right to remain silent. A judge and a jury cannot infer ANYTHING from a witness choosing not to testify. What a travesty this case was!
That's not quite right. What you're referring to only applies in criminal cases. Not in civil cases. In a civil case in the USA "pleading the fifth" can indeed be held against you. In a civil case a judge and jury can infer that your silence implies you are liable. Copyright cases are civil not criminal. So had this case been heard in the USA the exact same inference could be made. Still the wrong verdict though.
The industry is so evil it's easy to see why music is in such a dire state. I just hope this whole pyramid crumbles and a new, fairer model will appear
It's not the music industry. It's capitalism in general. 🤷♂️ There's nothing unique about the exploitation in the music industry it's ubiquitous across all industries.
I just watched this documentary for the second time and I have to commend you on the great work that you did in putting this documentary together. Very well done.
@@Traxploitation I did mention Half-Pint before but I also would love to add Third World, Chalice,Steel Pulse and Aswad to what could just turn out to be a growing list. 😁 The bands have always been left out in documentaries that have been made about reggae music and it is my belief that the bands are just as deserving of acknowledgement as the artist because they put the work in also and made their contributions to the genre.
Yes, you did mention Half Pint.. Aswad will probably be the first from that list, I work with Brinsley Fordes brother Gary (who is also a engineer/producer) and have been trying to arrange an interview with him...
@@Traxploitation hope you get that interview done soon. I think it's important that the bands get documented. We lost Zeb was it last year or the year before and this year we lost original Chalice drummer Desi Jones.
Some of the comments on here are funny. Some people think I've gone to all this trouble to make a 75 minute documentary but didn't at any point "google" the subject 🤷♂️🤦♂️😂 I do extensive research on all the topics...not just online...I also visit these giant buildings full of books known as libraries 😉 and talk directly to people involved in the stories. Prior to making this video I have spoken with both Marcia Barrett and Liz Mitchell about their experiences in Boney M. The male voice on Boney M songs up until Reggie Tsiboe joined the group is Frank Farian. Bobby Farrels voice was recorded on just one single. We kill world/Bunoonoonoos. Which was released AFTER he had left the group. All of this is in the video you commented on. Rather than suggest I Google things, you should probably have watched the whole video before commenting? 🤦♂️🤦♂️
C&C Music Factory (with Robert Clivillés and producer David Cole), like what Frank Farian did with Boney M., the group had used models in the C&C Music Factory; but a famous (unknown) R&B singer Martha Wash REALLY did the background vocals (on songs like "Gonna Make You Sweat"); the 1990's (Italian house) group Black Box ("Strike It Up," "Everybody Everybody").
Even as a kid - I may have been 9 or 10 at the time - I knew that it wasn’t the lady in the video that was singing. It just didn’t seem authentic and it was OBVIOUS!
Darlene Love's greatest vocal contribution was the song Christmas: Baby Please Come Home which was possibly the best track on Spector's Christmas Album.
May Toni enjoy finally a sweet retirement enjoying the recognition and admiration she deserves. Respect to her talent, her continuous hard work, her independence!
My heart breaks for this poor man! He had a horrible life yet tried to do something with himself. He WANTED to sing! He was doing something with himself despite his sad childhood. And yet, vengeful people had to rear him down! Shame on everyone that blames Rob and Fab for only doing what they were told to do. They were trapped.
Lets be honest, she was not asked to be in the video because of her weight. They wanted a more attractive person for the image of the group...nothing weirder than a bunch of fit male dancers and rapper...dancing around a 300lb obese woman. It sends an image the group did not want to send... They did not want to appear to be in an already sexualized video with a very overweight woman....a type of guilt by association.
I remember when C & C factory was on Apollo if I'm not mistaken and the lead lady singer started singing I was so confused like what happened to her voice? I found out some years later and it made since when I heard Martha Wash's voice. So wrong for doing that woman like that. Her voice made that song. It was ass on Apollo because the other lady was singing.
DOES ANYONE HAVE VIDEO OF MARTHA WASH SINGING FANTASY? AS MUCH I LIKE THE DUMMY SINGER LYPSNCH, BUT I PREFER MARTHA TO BE SINGING IT ON VIDEO. THANK YOU..
I remember seeing the two guys, (can't remember their names..😮) say, "Wouldn't you prefer to look at someone sexy on stage?" No, I want to see the true talent that made your song legendary....
Yeah that was Freedom Williams who said that... the clip is in the full video of this story...just in case you want to watch the whole thing... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eSefwVQVVpU.html
For a second I thought that she was maybe not hitting that f5 down to the a#4 live with Arsenio, but it's literally the same notes as on the track. Just amazing.
Seems to me songwriters (successful songwriters) are being sued more often these days. Is this just about making a money grab by hanging onto a successful songwriter's coattails? I can't say for sure, but it's not a good look.
"Seems" yes. But in reality there's very few copyright cases. There's actually less cases these days than previously. A few factors in that...not least of all...people tend to settle out of court these days...its much cheaper. People like Ed Sheeran employ musicologists in a preventative role...he has them listen to his new songs to check if he's left himself open to litigation. He also records the entire song writing process. The peak time for copyright cases was the early 1900s, when everything was still new and laws were still being figured out. One person (Ira Arnstein) sued over 50 people in a 5 year period...he lost them all, but set a lot precedents that still exist today like copyright cases being heard by a jury rather than just bench trials as they were in the very early days of music copyright.
When people start suing people for songs sounding alike, it proves people are getting greedy!!! There are only 7 basic nots and chords in music, A thru G and a hundred million songs for our enjoyment. Come on people, "GET A LIFE"!!!!
I agree with most of that. People are getting greedy and songs sort of sounding similar shouldn't be grounds for legal action. But a few things I need to correct. There aren't only 7 basic notes. We use 7 letters for the nomenclature but there's 12 notes in an octave. And human hearing has a range of 10 octaves...so there's in fact 120 audible notes....aaaand that's just western music. Other cultures have microtonal scales so have loads of additional notes "In between" the common whole tones. Also, the number of different notes available isn't the only factor in the amount of possible variations that can be created. Length, rhythm and articulation of notes provide nealy infinite possible combinations. But all that aside, the spirit of your comment is 100% spot on!
Lol. Yes. The people in this video who were children in the 80s...are now, 40 odd years later..." probably grown up" 🙄🤷♂️ Although 2 of the members sadly died...Freddie Waite died in 2022 and Patrick Waite in 1993.
I did mention it briefly at the end. But yeah, its not great and wasn't really a hit. Of the 23 singles Girls Aloud have released this one ranks number 17 with just 85,000 copies sold. 🤔
This was a very good analysis of how the song came to be. It’s sad that “Big Mama” Thornton made so little, she should have received her fair share, but I do hope people watch this video and finally come to realize that Elvis never stole anything.
It can be argued that elvis "stole" his style, dance moves and vocal technique....I personally think that's unfair because where is the line between "stealing" and inspiration? It can't be expected that every single performer is entirely original in everything they do. If that were the case genres wouldn't exist...nor would musical trends and movements. There would be just one artist in each genre...how boring!? The whole notion that Elvis stole songs is entirely false. The only way to steal a song is to claim you wrote it when u didn't, which he never did...not once. Recording or performing covers isn't stealing.
The original songwriters cashed in big time... Luckily for Natalie back then CDs were still selling in masses so she could make a buck or two per sold disc, or something in that range...
Artists got nowhere near "a buck or two" per disc. More like 50c, for most artists on a major label. The majority of the money earned from this song would have come from radio play though...not sales of CDs. Everywhere in the world except the USA artists are paid when recordings of their performances are played on the radio. She continues to earn money from that song, as its still regularly played on the radio. 🤔