No Pay

[Charlie]

4/42 B Battery Artillery 4th Division. Cheech and Chong came to visit our LZ around March of 1970. I was section chief of gun #5. I introduced them to my men and we talked for a while. They said they wanted to make a movie about drugs. I took an old envelope from my sweaty and dirty pants pocket and on the back I had written a song "Up In Smoke" I gave the song to them. They also had a guy with them taking notes. They made their movie with my song and I got nothing. I went to one of Tommy Chong's shows at the improv in Ontario, CA on December 2002 and ask Tommy for some money for my song. He got mad at me. I thought I was going to have to fight him. He said I wrote the song but he knew nothing about it. I have written 9 songs that the Rolling Stones, J. Geils Band and Van Morrison have recorded.
Can anybody out there help me get paid for my work?

Sincerely,
Don Goodman

[FabdaEclectic]

Don,

I do this for a living, so I'm sure I can help.

First off, do you have copyright on them? ANY kind of copyright, meaning - Do you have the original documents in an envelope, dated and mailed back to you? if so, that's a great starting point.

2nd, if you DO have them, I'd advise consulting with an entertainment lawyer. You may be entitled to retro royalties if you have originals of the songs. Even if you mailed them to yourself, or didn't but have original works with the original dates on them.

If you said YES to any of the above, I would quickly (and I stress that) license your works through BMI or ASCAP. In case you are unaware, those two licensing agencies pay you when your song gets used in public (played, recorded, performed).

Hope that helps!