Editing Willie Dixon (section)

===Copyright battles===
In his later years, Dixon became a tireless ambassador for the blues and a vocal advocate for its practitioners, founding the Blues Heaven Foundation, which works to preserve the legacy of the blues and to secure copyrights and royalties for blues musicians who were exploited in the past.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Speaking with the simple eloquence that was a hallmark of his songs, Dixon claimed, "The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits. It's better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on. The blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues."

In 1977, unhappy with the small royalties paid by Chess's publishing company, Arc Music, Dixon and Muddy Waters sued Arc and later Dixon founded his own publishing company, Hoochie Coochie Music.{{sfn|Mitsutoshi|2011|p=67}}

In 1987, Dixon reached an out-of-court settlement with the rock band [[Led Zeppelin]] after suing for plagiarism in the band's use of his music in "[[Bring It On Home (Sonny Boy Williamson II song)|Bring It On Home]]" and lyrics from his composition "[[You Need Love (Muddy Waters song)|You Need Love]]" (1962) in the band's recording of "[[Whole Lotta Love]]".{{sfn|Mitsutoshi|2011|p=197}}