Posts Tagged ‘music and musicians’

Update: Audubon String Quartet breakup

“If this were a stage tragedy, we’d be watching the final scene, where members of the famed string quartet are forced to surrender their instruments to the violinist they once spurned.

“But if this were a play, it would have been over long ago. Instead, the ugly drama of the Audubon Quartet and its former first violinist, David Ehrlich, is the drama that never ends.” Ehrlich has prevailed in the litigation and now is expected to take his former colleagues’ house, as well as other personal assets. He denies that just walking away from the dispute is an option at this point: “I have no choice. I owe a fortune to my attorneys.” (Kevin Kittredge, “Last act? Violinist Ehrlich seeks ex-colleagues’ assets”, Roanoke Times, Nov. 20). Earlier coverage on this site: Jun. 5, 2000 and links from there, May 10-12, 2002, and letter to the editor, Jun. 2002 (via Arts & Letters Daily). Update: the New York Times ran a substantial feature on the breakup Dec. 11.

Filed under: music and musicians, workplace

“The Hidden Cost of Documentaries”

Why can’t you get a DVD of “Eyes on the Prize,” which Henry Louis Gates Jr., chairman of the department of African and African-American studies at Harvard, called “the most sophisticated and most poignant documentary of African-American history ever made”? Because there are 272 still photographs, scenes from eighty archives, and music—and if a single set of rights expire, fear of copyright litigation prevents the entire movie from being shown or distributed. “Today, anyone armed with a video camera and movie-editing software can make a documentary. But can everyone afford to make it legally?” (Nancy Ramsey, New York Times, Oct. 16). American University professors Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi issue an extensive report describing the problem, but draw back from the obvious solution of liability reform, and thus make their recommendations toothless. “Educating gatekeepers about creators’ use rights” will have absolutely no effect so long as it will cost a documentary filmmaker less to pay for rights than to successfully defend a lawsuit against a rights-holder.

Comedian David Cross is learning this: he’s been sued by a nightclub owner who claims that Cross didn’t have permission to record him. Sub Pop Records, which distributed the Cross CD, claims that the permissions were granted.

How copyright clearance problems stultify documentaries

Forty-five percent of the budget for the movie “Mad Hot Ballroom” covered the cost of “clearing” rights to songs. The filmmaker even had to negotiate with the subject of the film not to play certain music, because the presence of an uncleared song playing in the background on a boombox would prevent a scene from being used. A three-word-shout that corresponded to the lyrics of a song would have cost the filmmakers $5,000 alone; they had to cut the scene rather than risk litigation. Carrie McLaren interviews producer/writer Amy Sewell on the Stay Free Daily blog (Jun. 22), and a follow-up post notes how the fear of litigation prevented her from asserting her fair-use rights (Jun. 22), a problem that could be solved by loser-pays rules. (Hat tip to C.N.) More: Feb. 8-10, 2002.

Filed under: copyright, loser pays, movies film and videos, music and musicians

Busybody Tennessee AG vs. Gretchen Wilson

Tennessee attorney general Paul Summers sent a warning letter (PDF) to country music star Gretchen Wilson (“Redneck Woman”) demanding that she stop pulling a can of Skoal smokeless tobacco out of her pocket on the concert stage; she’d been waving the can to illustrate a song about the “Skoal ring” outline in the back pocket of a pair of jeans. Summers’s letter invoked the 1998 multistate tobacco settlement, although neither Wilson nor her concert venues ever signed that agreement or could be in any way bound by it; it went on to insinuate that Skoal’s manufacturer had procured her “promotion” of the product, an insinuation that turned out to be quite false, the singer’s representative explaining that she had had no dealings with the company. Nonetheless, perhaps fearful of suffering the fate of the much-boycotted Dixie Chicks, Wilson capitulated instantly and promised not to display the tin on stage any more, whereupon Summers expressed satisfaction (PDF) and called her a “good citizen”. Had the object of suppression been something other than tobacco, do you think by now we might have heard any outcry about artistic freedom or musicians’ rights of expression? (“Country singer Gretchen Wilson asked to keep smokeless tobacco in back pocket”, AP/CourtTV, Aug. 29; Gail Kerr, “Wilson put quick stop to spat over Skoal”, Aug. 31; CommonsBlog, Aug. 27; Nick Gillespie and Jacob Sullum, Reason “Hit and Run”, Aug. 29.) More: Will Wilson comments at the AEI Federalism Project’s AG Watch (Aug. 29).

Filed under: attorneys general, music and musicians, Tennessee, tobacco, tobacco settlement

Heavy metal chicken band ad

Burger King Corp. has asked a federal court in Miami “to declare that the use of a mock heavy metal band featuring performers wearing chicken masks does not violate any rights” of the heavy metal band Slipknot, whose lawyers had fired off a cease and desist letter to the burger operator and its ad agency over the ad in question. “The Coq Roq band is a mock heavy metal band that is markedly and obviously different from Slipknot except for the generic fact that both play heavy metal music and wear masks,” according to the fast-food chain’s filing. (“Burger King takes ad dispute to court”, Orlando Sentinel, Aug. 21; Charlie Amter, “Slipknot Seeks to Block BK’s Coq”, E!Online, Aug. 18)(with ghastly photos))

Filed under: copyright, music and musicians, restaurants

The Overlawyered iMix

On August 25, a San Mateo County court will hold a fairness hearing over a nationwide class action settlement over iPod batteries that will provide $50 coupons for class members and $2,768,000 in fees for the attorneys. Because the lawsuit was filed before the Class Action Fairness Act took effect, the state court does not have to comply with the new federal requirement that attorneys’ fees reflect the actual redeemed value of the coupons, rather than the face value, one of many sensible provisions of the Act that trial lawyers, the New York Times, and dozens of prominent Democrats (including leading 2008 presidential contenders Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and John Edwards) opposed. In honor of this fairness hearing (as well as in honor of a pending lawsuit alleging that Apple is monopolizing the music market by selling music in a proprietary format), Overlawyered presents the Overlawyered iMix:

Read On…

Filed under: Apple, Beatles, class actions, John Edwards, libel slander and defamation, music and musicians, statutes of limitations

Childhood bully loses appeal against Eminem

“A man who bullied Eminem at school has been told he cannot sue the superstar over lyrics in which the rapper claimed he was almost killed by his schoolmate. A Michigan appeals court dismissed DeAngelo Bailey’s legal action because most fans would not take Eminem’s story of a vicious attack seriously.” (“Eminem safe from bully’s lawsuit”, BBC, Apr. 16; Ben Schmitt, “Eminem’s bully loses court appeal”, Detroit Free Press, Apr. 16). More: opinion (PDF) courtesy ALP.

Filed under: Michigan, music and musicians

Rosa Parks update

92-year-old Rosa Parks “has dementia and is only faintly aware of what is happening around her,” but that didn’t stop lawyers from filing a $5 billion lawsuit on her behalf against the music companies that permitted the music group OutKast to release a song with the title “Rosa Parks.” (Jan. 17). The case has settled with the promise of a CD and a television tribute to her, featuring her guardian, Dennis Archer, as host. No conflicts of interest there. I couldn’t find any press coverage indicating how much Parks’s current lawyer, Willie Gary (Oct. 14, Aug. 13, 2003, earlier links), was paid in the process; Archer refused to discuss financial terms. (Peter Slevin, “Settlement Commits Music Producers to Honor Rosa Parks”, Washington Post, Apr. 15). The Sixth Circuit held that the rappers did not have a first amendment right to name their song “Rosa Parks” because they could have called it “Back of the Bus” rather than use an allusive title. One looks forward to more federal court diktats over song titles. (Parks v. LaFace Records (6th Cir. 2003) (argued by the late Johnnie Cochran)). (And welcome Slate readers: check out the main page.)

Filed under: copyright, music and musicians, Sixth Circuit, Willie Gary

How lawyers almost killed “The Onion”

Continuing juvenile humor litigation day at Overlawyered: “We were very nearly sued out of existence by Janet Jackson,” said former Onion editor-in-chief Robert Siegel, thanks to a story headlined “Dying 13-Year-Old Gets His Wish, Will Pork Janet Jackson.” (Samara Kalk Derby, “Jackson almost killed Onion, editor reveals”, The Capital Times, Apr. 12) (via Romenesko).

Filed under: music and musicians, parody, publishers

Untraceable — but still under copyright

Due in part to expansions of copyright law lobbied for by Disney and other giants, a huge volume of writing, art and music which would otherwise by now have entered the public domain is still under copyright, even though the rights to much of it — things like picture postcards, ephemeral commercial illustration and sheet music issued by long-defunct publishers or with no identifying marks at all — cannot be traced to any particular current successor-owner even by good faith efforts. Per Wired News:

According to comments submitted to the copyright office, one married couple couldn’t get a wedding photograph repaired: The photography shop would not scan and reprint the photo because it was taken by a professional and the shop was afraid of violating copyright, even though the photographer was out of business.

“For heaven’s sake, this is a photograph of me and my wife, and I can’t have it legally repaired!!! Wrong, wrong, wrong!” wrote William Haynes.

(Katie Dean, “Copyright Reform to Free Orphans?”, Apr. 12).

Filed under: art and artists, copyright, Disney, music and musicians, photography, technology