80s rock icon reveals he was ‘preyed on’ early in his career
'We didn't know about lawyers.'
Iconic Jessie’s Girl singer Rick Springfield recently revealed that he was ‘preyed on’ at the beginning of his career.
The 80s heartthrob, now 75, opened up about the dangers of the music industry for young artists, who can easily be taken advantage of if they don’t have someone more experienced looking out for them.
During a recent chat with SiriusXM’s Eddie Trunk, the singer got vulnerable about one of the mistakes he made in his youth.
‘The music business has always preyed on the young. Absolutely,’ Springfield said.
He continued: ‘And I got preyed on when I was like 20 and I signed away my publishing rights because I didn’t know any better.’
He went on to explain that as a young Australian, he wasn’t familiar with the ins and outs of the American music industry.
Springfield realised he signed away publishing rights to his music when it was already too late (Picture: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)‘I was in Australia and these big Americans sent over this contract and we didn’t know about lawyers,’ the rocker continued.
‘I didn’t even have a lawyer look at it and I just said, “OK, this must be fair.” And I signed it and realized a couple of years later that they owned all of my publishing.’
Springfield then went on to praise Taylor Swift for trying to seize back control of her publishing rights from a predatory music business.
In 2019, Swift’s label, Big Machine, was sold to Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun, and with it the rights to Taylor’s back catalogue of songs.
The singer was a major heart throb in the 80s (Picture: Paul Natkin/Getty Images)As a result, the singer railed against the ‘toxic male privilege’ within the industry, and vowed to re-record all of her old tracks so she could perform them whenever she chooses.
Springfield said his own bad luck with publishing rights is ‘just the way of the world,’ but was clear that he admires the efforts younger artists like Swift are making to have creative control of their work.
‘[It] would always amaze me that I’d spend $100,000 on a frigging video in the ‘80s and the record company would own it,’ he continued.
He said he admires young artists like Taylor Swift who are seeking to take back creative control of their music (Picture: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)‘The majority of [the labels] just would shove product down the pipeline as much as they could, until the pipeline choked. That was kind of their approach. So every artist has absolutely their due to take all their music back.’
One of the most recognisable faces of 80s music, Springfield first exploded to fame in 1981 with Jessie’s Girl, which received the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance and hit number one on the charts in the US and Australia.
He followed with four more top 10 US hits: I’ve Done Everything for You, Don’t Talk to Strangers, Affair of the Heart and Love Somebody.
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