Connie Chung spoke with attorney Jay Cooper who represents the songwriters who worked with Kelly Clarkson to produce a demo tape that has the ‘American Idol’ winner in the headlines. Cooper says Clarkson only did demos for the songwriters and added, “My clients are not a recording company. They’re merely songwriters, well-known songwriters,
but merely songwriters.” Read on for a transcript.
CHUNG: Attorney Jay Cooper represents the songwriters who worked with
Kelly Clarkson. And he joins us tonight from, where else, Los Angeles.
Thank you so much for being with us.
JAY COOPER, ATTORNEY: Thank you.
CHUNG: Tell us, the tabloids were saying that Kelly Clarkson signed
three professional contracts and one of those contracts was with your clients.
Is it true?
COOPER: Well, I can say that she did sign a contract with my clients,
yes.
CHUNG: And what was the…
COOPER: It was a contract — yes?
CHUNG: What was it for?
COOPER: The contract was to do some demos. This is a normal procedure.
All beginning artists, all people who are looking to get into the business
sign a contract, usually to do some demonstration records, because they
have to show those to record companies in order to get a deal. My clients
are not a recording company. They’re merely songwriters, well-known songwriters,
but merely songwriters.
CHUNG: So, what was the hope that would happen after she recorded this
music?
COOPER: The hope was that a recording contract would come out of the
results of the product that she produced.
CHUNG: Well, then, do you think she did anything wrong by signing a
contract with these songwriters that you are representing and then signing
this information with the program “American Idol” that said that she was
an amateur?
COOPER: I think she was an amateur. I don’t think she did anything wrong.
They are not a record company. And so, what she was doing is what every
artist is trying to do to get into the business. They have to do demonstration
records to show what their voice sounds like on a recording. And that’s
all it was. It was for demonstration purposes. It wasn’t anything more
than that.
CHUNG: Have you or any of your clients spoken to Kelly Clarkson?
COOPER: I certainly haven’t. And I don’t believe that my clients have,
either.
I mean, nobody’s unhappy with Kelly. In fact, my clients wish her well.
They don’t have any animosity. They don’t have any problem at all with
her. They think she’s a fabulous talent.
CHUNG: All right. Well, thank you so much, Jay Cooper. Thank you for
clearing that up for us.
COOPER: OK. Thank you. Thank you very much.