Trax Records co-founder Larry Sherman exploited Chicago house producers by withholding royalties

Trax Records, the label that released canonical early Chicago house records (Chip E.’s ‘Time to Jack,’ Adonis’s ‘No Way Back,’ Larry Heard’s ‘Can You Feel It,’ Marshall Jefferson’s ‘Move Your Body’), was co-founded by Larry Sherman alongside Vince Lawrence and Jesse Saunders. The late Sherman—a white man—failed to pay proper royalties, released records without artists’ knowledge, and signed away rights to tracks that became international hits, leaving many Chicago producers aggrieved and embittered. This story of a white label owner profiting from Black artists’ work while leaving them uncompensated is a structural pattern in music-industry history.

Examples

Chicago producers have sought reparations from Trax Records decades after the fact. Mixmag’s investigation ‘Inside Trax Records: Why Chicago’s house originators are fighting for reparations’ documents the dispute.

Assessment

Name two Chicago house tracks released on Trax Records. What did Larry Sherman do that left producers feeling exploited? How does this case relate to broader patterns of exploitation in music-industry history?