Ask the music cognoscenti about Chess Records and they will probably talk about how the label opened the door for black American blues, soul and rock ’n roll pioneers to be commercially successful.

In 1950, the Chess brothers, Phil and Leonard, started their label in Chicago and recorded artists such as Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Etta James and Howlin’ Wolf. Their recording of Rocket 88 credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (Brenston provided vocals, but it was Ike Turner who wrote the song and his band The Kings of Rhythm that played on the record) is widely regarded as the first rock and roll single.

Why are you shocked that Spotify uses the same playbook created by the Chess brothers to exploit musicians?Credit: Bloomberg

But behind the glamour of making the charts, the Chess brothers blatantly ripped off the musicians and rarely paid royalties. After the brothers sold the label in 1969, artists were still taking legal action to be paid.

When Chuck Berry saw a hard copy of his Maybellene single, he was shocked to see the writing credits also included Alan Freed (a powerful radio DJ of the time – cash for comment, anyone?) and Russ Fratto (who owned a building occupied by the brothers and was happy to take royalties in lieu of rent).

The single sold more than a million copies on release. Freed and Fratto, who did not contribute anything, received 25 per cent cuts of the profits.

Record labels and music companies have been........

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