Hard luck stories

There was a discussion on Saturday evening on TV before a performance of Max Bruch's Violin Concerto in which it was said that the composer sold the copywright of the concerto for some ready money, not imagining the concerto would receive more than a few performances, only to discover that it was so popular it was played and played and played, Bruch not receiving a penny for the performances.
Hard luck Max Bruch.
Hard luck too on Sibelius who wrote "Valse Triste" when a young man to find that, after he had sold the copywright, the piece became incredibly popular. On the money he could have received for it he could have retired early.
Frederick E. West is best known for a novel he wrote called "633 Squadron". He gave a talk about his work in Newport some years ago which I attended when he said how he had sold the copywright or maybe that his hold over the book was not recognised in the states - something happened anyway that elicited his receiving no payment from the very popular film of the same name.
Hard luck Frederick E. West.
One of Hitchcock's less well known films, "The Trouble with Harry", Shirley Maclean's first film (and good she was too) was based on a novel by Jack Trevor Storey. The author got nothing for it. He tried but failed. He complained about it in print a lot but it was just another hard luck story. Or in his case, a hard luck Jack Trevor Storey.