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| Sam Cooke estate | |
|---|---|
| Name | Sam Cooke estate |
Sam Cooke estate The estate controlling the legacy of Sam Cooke oversees rights, assets, and public presentation of the singer-songwriter whose career intersected with numerous artists, labels, and institutions. The estate interacts with record companies, film producers, publishing houses, and cultural organizations to manage catalogs, trademarks, and biographical portrayals tied to Cooke's work and persona.
The estate holds copyrights, master recordings, publishing rights, and licensing agreements connected to recordings like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", and "Twistin' the Night Away" that involve labels and companies such as RCA Records, RCA Victor, Rough Trade Records, ABKCO Records, Epic Records, Columbia Records, Capitol Records, United Artists Records, Kapp Records, King Records, Vee-Jay Records, Scepter Records, Atlantic Records, Motown, Stax Records, Chess Records, Sun Records, Decca Records, Island Records, Polydor Records, Virgin Records, Warner Bros. Records, Reprise Records, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and BMG Rights Management.
Management of the estate has involved family members, corporate trustees, and entertainment executives who negotiate with artists and institutions like Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Sammy Davis Jr., Etta James, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry', Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Carole King, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Bob Marley, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Phil Spector, Berry Gordy, Clive Davis, Quincy Jones, Lester Bangs, Eugene V. Debs.
Assets include composition copyrights registered with performance rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, master tapes stored in archives such as the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, and private vaults like Sun Studio (Memphis). Licensing opportunities extend to motion pictures such as The Big Chill, The Blues Brothers, Selma (film), Malcolm X (1992 film), Selma, Ray (film), Walk the Line, Across the Universe, A Star Is Born (2018 film), and to television series produced by studios including HBO, Netflix, Amazon Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Studios, MGM Studios, Lionsgate.
The estate has engaged in litigation involving record labels, publishers, and filmmakers in venues like the United States District Court for the Central District of California, New York Supreme Court, and international tribunals linked to Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and Universal Copyright Convention obligations. Disputes have implicated law firms, management firms, and counterparties connected to entities such as Universal Music Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Concord Music Group, Kobalt Music Group, Primary Wave Music, Round Hill Music, Hipgnosis Songs Fund, Pulse Music Group, Delta Air Lines (for licensing), Nike, Adidas, PepsiCo, and broadcasters like BBC, NBCUniversal, CBS, ABC (American TV network), Fox Broadcasting Company.
Valuation relies on revenue streams from mechanical royalties, performance royalties collected by ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, neighboring rights organizations like SoundExchange, synchronization fees negotiated with companies including Sony Pictures, Warner Music Group, and direct licensing deals with streaming services Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube, Tidal, Deezer, Pandora (service), and digital distributors such as CD Baby and TuneCore. Investment vehicles and investors like Guggenheim Partners, BlackRock, KKR, Apollo Global Management, Silver Lake Partners, Providence Equity Partners, Bain Capital, TPG Capital, Rothschild & Co evaluate catalogue cash flows for securitization and royalty financing.
Preservation efforts involve collaborations with museums and cultural organizations including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Grammy Museum, The Kennedy Center, Museum of Pop Culture, Vocal Group Hall of Fame, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, National Archives and Records Administration, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and academic institutions like Howard University, Morehouse College, Hampton University, Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, New York University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Berklee College of Music, Baylor University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Sorbonne University.
The estate authorizes exhibitions, documentaries, and biopics featuring Cooke's music and life, collaborating with filmmakers, producers, and directors connected to projects about Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Coretta Scott King, Bayard Rustin, John Lewis (civil rights leader), James Bevel, Stokely Carmichael, Fannie Lou Hamer, and cultural retrospectives at festivals like South by Southwest, Coachella, Glastonbury Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Monterey Pop Festival, Isle of Wight Festival, Woodstock, and broadcast retrospectives aired on PBS, CNN, BBC Two, Channel 4 (UK).
Category:Music estates