i have often wondered about that - what the terms of Trojan licensing were back when most of their catalog was put together? since the music didn't originate from Trojan, it would have been licensed from Jamaican producers back in the day like Duke Reid, Bunny Lee, Leslie Kong, Harry J., etc.=Nilo82= wrote: Or take a look at Trojan. They did quantity for a long time and their reputation was almost ruined. Now they're doing limited but quality re-issues and take their time: most of their singles are sold out. Of course - Trojan has an awesome catalogue available for re-releases and they can just keep going, but I gotta back up the "limited with quality" approach.
obviously, the market in the UK was much bigger than the market in JA so it made sense for producers back then when the music was new. but, i'd love to know how that works nowadays and for different media (CD's versus singles and LP's)
normally in exclusive and non-exclusive licensing agreements, they are valid for a certain period time (let's say 3 to 5 years).
at the point when the original agreement expires, the licensee may agree to renew the agreement or negotiate a new one if necessary. given the potential minefield of who really owns the rights to the original recording and the publishing and how it seems to be a universal issue for everyone else, i am surprised that the modern version of Trojan hasn't run into legal problems over the years with re-issuing so much JA music.
unless they really do indeed have to wade through the same bunch of fuckery that everyone else does... anyone know how that works for them these days?