Quote:
Originally Posted by frankmcr
It's not the performer's responsibility to pay royalties to the composer.
"Arthur Crudup was credited as the composer on the label of Presley's single, but Crudup had to wait until the 1960s when he received an estimated $60,000 in back royalties." (wikipedia, quoting Michael Gray's Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)
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True, Elvis may not have been legally responsible, but he certainly knew he was getting rich and famous by covering the songs of artists who were not profiting from their work. For an alternative approach , you can look at Peter Paul and Mary who made sure that Rev Gary Davis got royalties for Samson and Delilah (although I read somewhere that Davis in turn got that song form someone else. )