If you didn’t know, Keith Richards released a new book detailing his life with the Rolling Stones. I haven’t had a chance to pick it up yet but Mick Jagger did. It moved him to write his own small rebuttal in Salon.com.

I recommend you read all of Mick’s words, but the excerpt below is of significance.

Which brings us to money.

We did not entirely mismanage our career in the 1960s, save for the calamity of signing with Allen Klein, who, with fatal strokes of our pens, obtained the rights and total control of our work throughout the 1960s.

It was my responsibility. Keith downplays this, but the fact is we signed the thief’s papers. It was all done legally. Klein was a Moriarity, truly; he didn’t wait to sign us to steal. The signing was the theft, a product of a scheme so encompassing that in the end, he paid us a pittance and walked off with our songs.

This is by far the single most important nonmusical event in our history, and yet it is rarely remarked on. I was not 30 and had lost us a historic treasure. (More here)

Moral of the story? Keep your copyrights at all costs. And the music industry is full of thieves.

Take Control of Your Music
Voyno