Cover Band Didn't Have Rights To Songs, Restaurant Owner Sued

[Professor Riffs]

Now how about this:

http://www.blogs.oregonlive.com/oreg...sp?item=214112

A performance of the Jimi Hendrix classic, "The Wind Cries Mary," may cost Michael Dorr his restaurant.

Dorr, the 37-year-old owner of Imbibe on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, has been slapped with a federal lawsuit by companies that own the rights to a trio of popular classics that were performed at Dorr's restaurant in 2005.

The songs at the center of the suit?

Other than the Hendrix song, the music companies say Stevie Wonder's "That Girl," and a 1971 tune, "Slippin' into Darkness."

Dorr says a rep from the American Society of Musicians and Publishers paid an unannounced visit to his restaurant one night and heard covers of the songs performed by local band "Black Notes."

Because his place features local musicians and covers are rare, he didn't think he had to pay the musicians and publishers group an estimated $2,000 to cover performances of copyrighted tunes.

But the owners of the songs, including Wonder and Hendrix's estate, say he does.

Now they're suing Dorr for copyright infringement - and they're seeking payment of between $750 and $30,000 for each song, along with attorney fees.

"It's basically going to bankrupt me and put me out of business," Dorr said this morning. "I can't afford the lawyer and the fees. It's going to close me down."

The married father of two, who opened Imbibe a couple of years ago, said bands typically start playing after 10. But after Friday, the restaurant will do without live music because of the lawsuit.

"It's a total bummer," he said. "It's scary for me and my family. The restaurant business is hard and on top of other things, business is slow. This is the icing on the cake."



Thoughts?

[GearJunkie]

someone call jimmy buffett.

[dolivas]

Originally Posted by Professor Riffs

Now how about this:

http://www.blogs.oregonlive.com/oreg...sp?item=214112

A performance of the Jimi Hendrix classic, "The Wind Cries Mary," may cost Michael Dorr his restaurant.

Dorr, the 37-year-old owner of Imbibe on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, has been slapped with a federal lawsuit by companies that own the rights to a trio of popular classics that were performed at Dorr's restaurant in 2005.

The songs at the center of the suit?

Other than the Hendrix song, the music companies say Stevie Wonder's "That Girl," and a 1971 tune, "Slippin' into Darkness."

Dorr says a rep from the American Society of Musicians and Publishers paid an unannounced visit to his restaurant one night and heard covers of the songs performed by local band "Black Notes."

Because his place features local musicians and covers are rare, he didn't think he had to pay the musicians and publishers group an estimated $2,000 to cover performances of copyrighted tunes.

But the owners of the songs, including Wonder and Hendrix's estate, say he does.

Now they're suing Dorr for copyright infringement - and they're seeking payment of between $750 and $30,000 for each song, along with attorney fees.

"It's basically going to bankrupt me and put me out of business," Dorr said this morning. "I can't afford the lawyer and the fees. It's going to close me down."

The married father of two, who opened Imbibe a couple of years ago, said bands typically start playing after 10. But after Friday, the restaurant will do without live music because of the lawsuit.

"It's a total bummer," he said. "It's scary for me and my family. The restaurant business is hard and on top of other things, business is slow. This is the icing on the cake."



Thoughts?

Who owns the copyrights to the U.S. National Anthem or Goodbye Yellow Brick Road? I mean this smells of hypocrisy if the copyright owners of those two songs sued Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Wonder in the first place for covering those songs live respectively. I mean half of the bands in the 60s and early 70s were doing cover up and down like crazy which means that all those clubs would have gone out of business if there was this ratty rep their. It's just ludicrous in my opinion. It's comparative to you drawing a sketch of the Bombing of Guernica at an art class and having the Van Gogh family demanding royalties for your crappy cubist art.

If you're not selling a cover and the venue is not promoting or selling the cover of that song I don't see how it's or the artist is responsible for whatsoever someone plays on their stage. Freedom of speech/expression goes down the tube everytime something like this happens.

[Whoopysnorp]

Who draws the line on what constitutes a cover and what constitutes a derivative work in this scenario? Officially, Devo's 'Secret Agent Man' is a cover song, but they wrote entirely new music and words for the verses and only the choruses bear any resemblance to the classic song. My band once did a version of 'Back in Black' where we got through the first verse and chorus pretty much straight up, and then the singer kept going with the second verse while we fell apart into a kind of deranged free-jazz freak-out underneath him. Does that still count as a cover? I'm sure Hendrix is rolling in his grave, and if Wonder is actually behind this, shame on him.

[smopo24]

i wonder what is the deal with tribute bands....do they have to pay money to the bands they are paying tribute to? it's not like they make THAT much money; maybe a few hundred bucks to a couple grand at most (depending on how well they draw).

[mikegee]

Originally Posted by Whoopysnorp

Who draws the line on what constitutes a cover and what constitutes a derivative work in this scenario? Officially, Devo's 'Secret Agent Man' is a cover song, but they wrote entirely new music and words for the verses and only the choruses bear any resemblance to the classic song. My band once did a version of 'Back in Black' where we got through the first verse and chorus pretty much straight up, and then the singer kept going with the second verse while we fell apart into a kind of deranged free-jazz freak-out underneath him. Does that still count as a cover? I'm sure Hendrix is rolling in his grave, and if Wonder is actually behind this, shame on him.

from what i read on this, regarding devo, changing the lyrics to secret agent man, that would most likely be considered a parody, not copyright infringeable, although, they would probably still have to pay liscensing fees. sorta like weird al yanko doing "eat it" to "beat it"

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by mikegee

from what i read on this, regarding devo, changing the lyrics to secret agent man, that would most likely be considered a parody, not copyright infringeable, although, they would probably still have to pay liscensing fees. sorta like weird al yanko doing "eat it" to "beat it"

yea, i think that may also have been the case with satisfaction; an almost 100% about face from the origional song. now that is an origional cover version! i hear the stones like that version best out of all the covers of it that they've heard.

[Whoopysnorp]

Originally Posted by mikegee

from what i read on this, regarding devo, changing the lyrics to secret agent man, that would most likely be considered a parody, not copyright infringeable, although, they would probably still have to pay liscensing fees. sorta like weird al yanko doing "eat it" to "beat it"

The credit on the album lists the original songwriter and then "arranged by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald V. Casale". Pretty generous credit considering Devo was way more responsible for that song that the original guy.

Originally Posted by smopo24

yea, i think that may also have been the case with satisfaction; an almost 100% about face from the origional song. now that is an origional cover version! i hear the stones like that version best out of all the covers of it that they've heard.

I've heard that too, and well they should. That song is a little more of a cover than 'Secret Agent Man' though, since they at least kept all the original lyrics.

[warmowski]

The only rule that applies is: whoever has the bigger pockets gets to set the rules - just like everywhere else in the mainstream music industry.

ASCAP (and BMI) collects performing rights fees in the form of annual cash payments (called "blanket licenses") from "any" venue that plays music on its premises.

I put "any" in quotes because the fact is ASCAP pays much more attention to fruitful efforts to collect fees. What constitutes fruitful? Well, reps can collect more dollars and more easily from, say, sports stadiums or large clubs or theatres etc than small restaurants.

So many small places get overlooked by ASCAP. They don't pay the license, and they have a jukebox or cd player or live stage in their club.

But the fact remains that ASCAP will cruise small places often enough to sometimes create the above sitaution! And if you, the business owner, are not an ASCAP licnesee, you can get threatened if you are caught playing recorded or live songs in ASCAP's catalog in your place.

I Am Not A Lawyer,

-r

[warmowski]

Originally Posted by Whoopysnorp

The credit on the album lists the original songwriter and then "arranged by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald V. Casale". Pretty generous credit considering Devo was way more responsible for that song that the original guy.

I've heard that too, and well they should. That song is a little more of a cover than 'Secret Agent Man' though, since they at least kept all the original lyrics.

I love that version, and it's true that so much was changed, one wonders why it wasn't considered an original version instead of a derivative work. But I think it's pretty safe to assume it happened that way becase the label or its business partner would make more (or lose less) money that way. This is because just about anything that happens in a major label-band relatonship is meant to favor the label.

One likely answer is a pre-existing condition with the song copyright and Warner Brothers, Devo's US label.

Even though it's technically a conflict of interest, Warner Bros. the label and Warner-Chappell the publisher were often organized to be legally very close. This can lead to all kinds of weird things when artists on the label cover songs published by the publisher.

-r