Ellen Shipley on her self-titled album

Ellen Shipley on not getting paid for her hits

Ellen Shipley, the songwriter for Belinda Carlisle, Hanson and Faith Hill, checks in again with Bob Lefsetz and we get to eavesdrop. We first heard from her in Ellen Shipley, songwriter, unloads on crooks in music biz

Bob! Ellen Shipley here again.

Glad to see that you are still as pissed off as ever!  I love company.

I still haven’t been paid what I am owed by my Publishing Company. Actually, Publishing Company #1 is supposed to pay Publishing Company #2 and then they pay me what I’m owed. Yeah.  Right.  It’s closing in on two years since I realized that Publishing Company #1 underreported all my royalties to Publishing Company #2.

They  (#1) hope I’ll go away so they can keep my money forever and ever.. Maybe the Black Box is getting too low on stolen funds.

Give her some Shut-up money!!  No. I don’t think so.

OH by the way–  Funny, how they paid my song writing partner two-three times as much as they have paid me for co-writing the songs in question.  Maybe he’s cuter.  Maybe he’s better at this game.

Maybe–maybe what??!!

Someone asked me if I had insulted this wonderful Publishing Company #1 as this lack of paying me seemed almost “personal”. What??  Hey– I don’t understand this whole “it’s not personal” thing.

Who made that up??

Hate me for my nice hair or Brooklyn mouth or love me for all the same reasons.  It doesn’t MATTER.

You are stealing from ME! That’s as personal as it gets in my book.

My 91 yr. old dad thinks the music business is filled with “bad guys” that no one ever “catches and puts in jail”.  I used to laugh at him.

Now, I don’t.

I’ve hired a lawyer.

Kurt Cobain singing Bon Jovi???

That goes along with the rest of the madness I see  and hear—I don’t sleep very well. Does anybody?

All I can do is  play Scrabble on my IPhone  at 3 in the morning.  But they use words I don’t understand.

I can beat them but I have to cheat.

Is that the only way to get anything done now?

Money, money. Money– Cobain sings Bon Jovi-more kids will want their toy (it’s such a wow-ee great commercial idea!).

Puking………

Speaking of “personal”:

When “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” went to number 1 on the charts, Bon Jovi sued me for plagiarism that same week.

I remember how he called me on the phone and told me it wasn’t “personal”…  I hung up the phone and threw-up my Thanksgiving dinner.

My reaction to everyone suggesting I give him a piece of the publishing to end the fight was: I took out a second mortgage on my brownstone in Brooklyn and fought the boys until it finally “went away” — but not before it all  took the joy right out of my ride. It disappeared into the void of lost lawsuits when one of the co-writers realized that I wasn’t going to be “friends” with him any longer.

He tried to convince me it wasn’t “personal” and we could still be buddies.  He was so shocked that I took it all so “personally”.  Right.

It’s just business.  Just like Cobain singing Bon Jovi; just like the Insurance Companies denying my 24 yr. old healthy daughter coverage!!??!

Just like being ripped off by Publishing Companies. None of it is “personal”.  It’s all about money.  M-O-N-E-Y.

I have a particularly bad taste in my mouth right now.

I’m pissed off at all of it and yes, it’s PERSONAL!

Don’t forget that.

Ellen

As always, I like a video so here’s Ellen Shipley with David Johansen