Dick Weissman is author of the book " Which Side Are You On" and " ? An Inside History of the Folk Music Revival in America" . " In it, he says it was the usual practice for folklorists to copyright songs that they collected. The copyright holder owns the rights to the song for a period governed by law.

In the 1940s and 50s, the publisher and song writer songwriter equally shared income from records record sales. That could include people like the Lomaxes who copyrighted a new arrangement of an old folk song.

Some of the songs collected by the Lomaxes became popular records. For example, Lead Belly's " Goodnight Good Night, Irene" became a huge hit for the folk group " the Weavers" . That was in 1949, a year after John Lomax died.

The copyrights to the these songs were held not only held by the singers but also by his son Alan. Other musicians , like Harry Belafonte and the Kingston Trio also recorded songs for which Alan Lomax shared in the copyright.