Richard Lewis Spencer of the The Winstons finally got his paycheck. Spencer is the man behind “Amen Break” and fans of the funk group made a crowdfunding page to raise some money for some long overdue payment that was well needed. The fans raised a total of twenty-four thousand pounds, approximately thirty-seven thousand US dollars. The campaign was led by British DJs Martyn Webster and Steve Theobald, who initially planned to raise one thousand pounds, or an estimated eight hundred dollars. “Thank you so much for this great contribution to my life,” he said. “Thank you very, very much. A-men!” said Richard Lewis Spencer in a video on his Facebook page after finding out about the funding for the band to earn royalties.
Even though it took forty-six years in the making. The solo from Winston’s “Amen Brother” album has been used close to two thousand times by other bands and artists, including David Bowie himself. The six second drum solo was created back in the 1960s, but no one ever paid the band royalties when using this small tidbit over five decades. So when the crowd began to fund the royalty money, it was finally worth the credit where credit was due and Spencer and his band mates from the Winstons will be able to receive recognition for their influence on modern musicians. NWA (on ‘Straight Outta Compton’) and, more recently, Tyler, The Creator are some of the other musicians who have been noted on the Whosampledwho.com website for famous riffs and solos that have been repeated in usage for over decades of music.
According to US Law, musicians can file a civil criminal case of song sampling within thirty-six months. Despite the fact that the band missed their window of opportunity, some of the surviving members will be able to earn what was long overdue. The Winston former drummer, Gregory Coleman, recently died homeless and Spencer was previously working in the transit industry when he first learned about the sampling.
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