When you own a copyright, you are the only one that can do whatever you want with your work.  If anyone else wants to use your work, they have to get your permission.   If anyone else wants to make changes to your work, they have to get your permission. (Since you may be wondering, there are still the fair use and parody exceptions if they apply.)

Musician Walsh’s attorney has sent a letter to Candidate Walsh.  The letter is absolutely true in its statement of law, but written in a manner that is hysterical.  My favorite part is where Peter Paterno (Musician Walsh’s attorney) says “Now, I know why you used Joe’s music — it’s undoubtedly because it’s a lot better than any music you or your staff could have written. But that’s the point. Since Joe writes better songs than you do, the Copryright Act rewards him by letting him decide who gets to use the songs he writes.”   I applaud you, Mr. Paterno.

Click here to read the article and be sure to click on the link within the article to read the full letter.

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The new company, called Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. will thankfully be subject to conditions, such as the separation of ticketing and concert promotions services. However, it will still be one insanely large company with a stake in concerts, ticketing, merchandising and even the sale of recorded music.

What this means for artists:   The industry is shifting to a model of large companies handling all aspects of an artist’s career.  I personally think this is a bad idea because instead of having a company dedicated to performing one service well, you will have one company performing many services on a mediocre level.  You wouldn’t want your dentist to also be your carpet cleaner and personal stylist, would you?

An artist needs the people servicing each part of his career to be experts in that area.  It is fine if one company employs experts in each area it handles and services the artist with the artist’s best interests in mind.  However, this is not always the case.  Artists need to make sure whatever company they sign with is competent in all services it provides and does not screw the artist over by taking too large of a cut from some or all areas of service.

What this means for consumers/concert attendees:  It is said this merger will also be better for the consumer because ticket prices will come down.  AEG, a promoter behind Live Nation is also established as a competitor of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. under the DOJ’s imposed conditions.  This is good because the DOJ is trying to not let this new venture have a monopoly over the concert and ticket industries.  However, I will believe that ticket prices will come down when I see them coming down.

Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal.

To be continued…

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What if YouTube, or other social media sites, had a pre-screening process before users were allowed to upload content? I will use YouTube for example. Say YouTube changed their video upload process to where, instead of just writing a blurb about not uploading infringing content, they actually had a questionnaire. Here is a rough example:
1. Do you own the video you are about to upload to YouTube?
a. No – Continue to #3
b. Yes – Continue to #2
2. Does this video contain any copyrighted material (such as music, video clips, or a recitation of written works) that you do not own?
a. No – You may upload the video.
b. Yes – Continue to #3
3. Do you have permission to upload this copyrighted material/content?
a. No – Continue to #4
b. Yes — You may upload the video.
4. Does this video fall under the Fair Use doctrine (provide short description of fair use)?
a. Yes — You may upload the video.
b. No – You may not upload the video, or you may remove the infringing content from the video and upload the remainder of the video.

I realize this is very simple and does not address problems such as defamation. Furthermore, it relies heavily on the honor system where people will falsely say they have permission to use the work and that their video falls under Fair Use when it does not. While this proposal could be fine-tuned, it is a start. After such a screening process, the takedown notices might decrease and it may be easier to police infringers.

I do not agree with or condone copyright infringement. However, I do agree with creation. There has to be a happy medium between the two and both sides are going to have to compromise a bit to get there.
~D*J*E

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Click here to view the cartoon by Steve Greenberg at www.greenberg-art.com.

Out of respect for Steve’s copyrights in his work, I am not reposting the image here. Please follow suit.

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Apple has agreed to offer DRM-free tracks, as well as some songs priced at 79 cents!

This is a big deal and will also give some of their competition (like Amazon and eMusic) a run for their money.

Read the article here.

I think 2009 is going to be an interesting year in all respects.

~D*J*E

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Prince has a reputation for being an eccentric . . . and a genius.  It was Prince who started selling downloads through his website several years before iTunes and the downloading craze hit.  It was Prince who gave away his album with copies of The Daily Mail in the last couple years.

Prince and other visionaries are often judged as “crazy” when they are actually just ahead of their time.  Now Prince is turning to radio.  I still do not believe radio is powerless, but could there be a resurgence within the next few years?

Read the news article here.

P.S.  New Prince album on the way! Electric!

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However, this might be a difficult case for Coldplay to fight. Other artists, such as George Harrison, have lost cases involving very similar situations. (See Bright Tunes Music v. Harrisongs Music
420 F. Supp. 177 (S.D.N.Y. 1976) or view the summary link here.)

The Satch’s track was released in 2004 and widely disseminated (i.e. available to anyone on the open market), which means Coldplay clearly had access and opportunity to hear “If I Could Fly.” It doesn’t matter whether Coldplay actually heard it, the opportunity was there.

Furthermore, there is arguably a substantial similarity between the two compositions.

Someone did a comparison and mash-up of the two songs on YouTube. What do you think?
Comparison — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvB9Pj9Znsw
Mash-up — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn6I6dqwhik

I’m not making any accusations, I’m just calling it like I hear it.

Honestly, I prefer the mash-up. Maybe after a chunky settlement, the two music-makers can team up for an electric re-recording.

Comments welcome.

(Note: The bold terms are what a court will use to examine the possible infringement. A court will use these factors because there is no evidence of direct copying. This post is neither legal advice nor a legal determination.)

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I am not saying country music is perfect or better than any other genre. Many country performers are not writers, something we as a culture have gotten used to since The Beatles. I have heard stories that there are just as many ProTools fixes happening in country sessions as there are in other genres. I’m not disputing that.
What I’m saying is that country music seems to be thriving while other genres are flailing. Country music seems to have something to it that other genres are lacking. The big question is - what do they have that everyone else is missing?

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