There's nothing like black music, it's just something about it, right?

The rhythms, the texture, the very sound of it makes you tap your foot, snap your fingers,

clap your hands.

Despite whatever hardships you might be facing in that moment, black music has the power

to activate that feeling deep in your soul in a way that no other music can.

Yeah, there's nothing like black music or the exploitation of it.

I'm Jay from Push Black and you're listening to Black History Gear.

The cultural contributions of black folks are endless, let's be honest, especially when

we're talking about music, gospel, the blues, jazz, rock and roll, country, hip hop.

So many styles can be traced back to us and you already know the world just got what's

it up.

Consume so much of it that when the recording industry hears black music, all they see

is dollar signs.

It's a price black artists have paid since the recording era's inception.

The roots of this commodification and exploitation are a subject that today's guest knows very

well.

Fumi Ariwa is a professor of transactional and business law at Temple University.

Much of her research centers technology in Africa, but since becoming a law professor,

it shifted to black music.

She explores the business and legal structures in which music was created, a lot of which

you can find in her upcoming book, creation, curation and culture, law and global markets

for black music.

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