Copyright Protection: What would Loleatta Holloway say?

There is much discussion nowadays on how much protection should be granted to the holders of Intellectual Property (IP). Most of the discussion focuses on balancing the public good (the progress of humanity) and individual financial reward. In the context of music, the most vocal critics of IP theft are those artists that are currently at the top of their game. The ones who are in the charts this year and the ones who have the most chance of having people pay through the big channels of distribution, whether this be Wal-Mart, Amazon or iTunes.

We hear much less complaining from those artists who are just starting out and those artists whose time in the charts ended decades ago. For this last group, illegal downloading, peer-to-peer sharing, illegal sampling and remixing are often blessings in disguise.

One artist that has had her career sustained for many years after her peak is Loleatta Holloway. I had never even heard her until I was in a record shop in Glasgow, Scotland, a few years ago and heard a dance track with, what I thought, was an amazing vocal. Now the beat was great and I asked, "Who's the vocalist?" I later found out that it was Loleatta Holloway, a singer that was quite successful in the 70s and 80s.


Loleatta gets a career boost from unexpected sources

So the big question is, did illegal use of her vocals negatively impact her career or contribute to it and, in later years, sustain it? I guess one of the best ways to answer this question would be to ask her.

PS. For more on this type of stuff, check out The Pirate's Dilemma.