It is widely acknowledged that Kirk Franklin is credited with transforming the gospel music landscape in both America and globally. In 1993, he made his album debut with “Kirk Franklin and The Family.” The Texas native topped the charts at this point.
Contrary to popular belief, the singer’s success did not translate into financial gain despite the album’s success. Franklin disclosed this during a speech on “Club Shay Shay.”
He claimed that the record deal he signed for his debut album did not provide him a cut of the publishing profits. He added that his representatives were unaware that the record company he signed with retained all of his publishing rights.
“My very first recording contract at 23 years old, the label I signed with, they took a hundred percent of my publishing,” Franklin shared. “The people that had represented me didn’t know; it was new for everyone.”
He pointed out that Texas’s entertainment scene was not as developed as it is now, when he rose to national and international fame. In addition, he was unaware of the necessity for an entertainment lawyer. According to him, at that time, individuals were more concerned with creating music than with making the necessary financial decisions.
He claimed that the lawyer he hired might have been a real estate lawyer, which would have made it harder for him to get in touch.
“The attorney that I had was probably like a real estate attorney. I didn’t really know who to reach out to. This was 1993. I’m living in Texas. It’s not an entertainment space,” he said.
“That’s not the ecosystem that gospel music has always matriculated through,” he said. “And so we didn’t have a lot of professionals in our space to be able to try to gather information, and [the label] took a hundred percent of my publishing.”
Years down the line, Franklin has learned a crucial lesson from losing his publishing revenue although he now receives publishing from the initial deal. “I’m old enough now where [according to] a lot of the copyright laws, they [the publishing] revert back to me,” Franklin explained.