Isaac Hayes III wants to help social media creators monetize their content – Atlanta Magazine

Isaac Hayes IIIPhotograph by Brinson + BanksA few years ago, Isaac Hayes III spotted a viral video on its way to 22 million views. In it, a teen dressed in a Spider-Man costume—dubbed “Ghetto Spider-Man”—hijacks a GameStop to dance to A-ha’s “Take on Me.” Hayes messaged the anonymous dancer to say congratulations. “Are you a manager?” Ghetto Spider-Man replied. He needed to learn how to capitalize on his 15 minutes of fame—fast. “I’ll come to Atlanta,” he continued. “Can you call me?”Hayes isn’t a manager, though he does technically manage the estate of his late father, the legendary singer Isaac Hayes, who helped solidify Stax Records as one of soul’s greatest labels. In 1976, during a period of financial hardship, Stax defaulted on the elder Hayes’s royalty payments, forcing him to declare bankruptcy. That, in turn, cost him the rights and royalties to music he made at the height of his career, including his Academy Award–winning Shaft soundtrack.Because of his father’s experience, Hayes empathizes with Black artists struggling to own their creative content and benefit from their cultural influence—a struggle still taking place decades later, though now on a radically different plane: social media. Creators on platforms like Instagram and…
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