I’ve seen the film when it came out and was listening to Rodriguez before it came out, but my memory must be failing me, as I thought he only sold like 10 albums in the US and hence no royalties, but how he got famous was bootlegged tapes and records in South Africa.
“In conclusion, while there may have been duplicity at Sussex, most likely the reason why Rodriguez never got paid royalties is because there were no royalties to be paid”
That was the heart warming thing for me, he never sold out and never knew he was famous. We all would like to imagine ourselves as such, and we’d never know the difference :)
I’ve seen the film when it came out and was listening to Rodriguez before it came out, but my memory must be failing me, as I thought he only sold like 10 albums in the US and hence no royalties, but how he got famous was bootlegged tapes and records in South Africa.
I think that also happened…and maybe the royalties issue wasn’t as black and white as I thought.
What Likely Happened to the Royalties for “Sugar Man”?
It’s a tuff biz. I don’t think you were wrong, luck has a lot to do with it and the bootlegging certainly helped.
“In conclusion, while there may have been duplicity at Sussex, most likely the reason why Rodriguez never got paid royalties is because there were no royalties to be paid”
That was the heart warming thing for me, he never sold out and never knew he was famous. We all would like to imagine ourselves as such, and we’d never know the difference :)