Music Publisher Discovers A Song In Its Catalog Has Been Heavily Sampled For Decades... Sues Everyone
from the statute-of-limitations? dept
Over at THREsq, they have the story of a small music publisher by the name of Drive-In Music. Apparently it holds the rights to the song "Let A Woman Be A Woman" by Dyke & The Blazers:Since then, however, Drive-In has suddenly discovered that the song has been sampled in a bunch of other songs, and has decided to sue over all of them. THREsq has a list:
- In July, Drive-in Music sued Sony BMG, Ruthless Records, and others for use of "Let a Woman Be a Woman" in the seminal gangster rap hit, "Menace to Society" by the group, Above the Law
- In August, Drive-in Music sued Capitol Records for use of "Let a Woman Be a Woman" in the 1990 rap song, "Diss You" from rapper, King Tee
- In September, Drive-in Music sued Busta Rhymes, Warner Music, Elektra Entertainment, Atlantic Recording Company and others for use of "Let a Woman Be a Woman" in 1991 old-school hip hop song, "Case of the P.T.A."
- In September, Drive-in Music sued Universal Music Group, Interscope-Geffen-A&M Group, and Beck Hansen for use of "Let a Woman Be a Woman" in the 1997 Beck song "Jack-Ass" from the Odelay album
- In fact, just this week, Drive-in Music has filed a second lawsuit over that very same Beck song. The company is going after the publisher, Cyandide Breathmint Music, the Dust Brothers, and various subsidiaries of UMG.
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Filed Under: music, samples
Companies: drive-in music
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http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/30584/Stetsasonic-Sally_Dyke%20%26%20the%20Blazers-Let% 20a%20Woman%20Be%20a%20Woman%20-%20Let%20a%20Man%20Be%20a%20Man/
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Re:
It never ceases to amaze me how people borrow off the styles of others, and then have the nerve to sue people who do the same thing to them.
CBMHB
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Re: Re:
Ah, but it's only infringement when someone else does it to them. See how that works?
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Can anyone find any info on "Drive-In Music"? It seems non-existent, except for this lawsuit.
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They signed this band in around '66-'67 and they have held the rights (reportedly) to this song since around 1970
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I am no expert in this genre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_moB85G7xI
James Brown anyone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otF5XwyVy2M
Just for fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-B3bWwK_Bk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ny5ajCn0xw
Have a great weekend all.
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Is there a limit to the number of songs mankind can write?
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Re: Is there a limit to the number of songs mankind can write?
http://blog.sitedaniel.com/2010/05/kookaburra/
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Re: Re: Is there a limit to the number of songs mankind can write?
http://slashdot.org/story/01/10/04/0142222/Copyright-Claimed-on-Telephone-Tones
He's still online offering to sell you a license to the melody you make by dialing your own phone number...
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Missed opportunity
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Re: Missed opportunity
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I would argue that Zangetsu and PW's arguments sound a little naïve... Z: Haven't we also said all the words in the English language in one order or another thus making any copyright on a book useless? PW: do you really think that politely raising his hand will get the original creator his piece of the pie?
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That musician should be asking how are they making money and I'm not if we are doing the same thing?
He should start doing what others are doing, then he may discover that a) Other are not making that much more b) He was doing it wrong and that is why he wasn't making money.
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That is how the law works right?
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sample vs. cover version
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If this is true then it's a real bitch ass move by the publisher to pull this after the fact. And pretty dumb not having the Mp3 available for purchase.
On the other hand, if the publisher was contacted and denied the sample clearance requests then by all means they should sue.
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Suppose you write an original song, someone covers it, and their version winds up on a superbowl commercial without your consent or credit. Are you somehow at fault for not selling it first? Should you wait until some blogger finds out it's your song, then wait for people to come buy your version -- all while some other unscrupulous person makes off with tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars?
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Re: Neil
"Suppose you write an original song, someone covers it, and their version winds up on a superbowl commercial without your consent or credit."
If you right an original song and someone covers it, that implies that your song got recorded and you got paid for it. Otherwise how would they know about it to cover it? (yes, I know that it is theoretically possible, but it is extremely unlikely) Also assuming your premise isn't flawed and it did happen it would make more sense to capitalize on the popularity of the song that covered your song. Think about it this way if you publicize that this new song just covers your song a lot of people who like the new song will like your song too. Most people identify as much if not more with the melody/beat of a song than they do with the lyrics. Not suing over the unauthorized cover would also engender good will in the fans of that band/song toward you.
As to the question in your earlier comment:
"Just curious at what point people here think a copyright case would actually be justified."
I think that suing another party for any reason should be considered a last resort and not an initial reaction. When many companies (and individuals) see something they don't like they decide to sue. When instead they should first question do I have any legal standing to sue and second is suing going to give me/us the best overall outcome down the road. In many cases (some of which have been outlined here on Techdirt) even when they win the lawsuit they lose things that are much more valuable (like the respect and good will of there customers). Very few people buy products from companies they hate/don't respect unless they don't have any other options.
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Re: Re: Neil
And *my* premise is flawed? So how does the writer get paid in your example? Anyone can cover a song as long as they pay the writer a mechanical license of $.09 per unit. So let's say the artist covering the song presses 1000 CDs: the writer gets paid $90. The cover version gets sold to a superbowl commercial for tens of thousands of dolllars. The writer legally has to approve of and be cut in on that deal.
You seem to be living in a fantasy world where writers get compensated with a warm fuzzy feeling when people hear their song. Oh, what's that... someone else made $50,000 dollars it? No problem, I wouldn't want to be perceived as crass for wanting my share. Lucky for me, my landlord accepts respect and good will in lieu of money.
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Not a copyright lawyer, but my understanding is that it depends on what circuit you're in. In some circuits you can collect for the entirety of the infringement, and in others you can only collect for the three years prior to the action being filed.
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Just a thought.....
Odelay (as the first example I googled) is about 14 years old. Isn't that past the statute of limitations for REAL theft in most places? And that's where the owner of the object reported it missing.
If someone "steals" your "work" and you don't even notice for 14 years isn't it just a tad more ludicrous than usual to sue them? OOoooo I've come over all philosophical. If a tree falls in a forest with no-one to hear.... Pah! Child's play!
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Limitations lead to frustration
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