Stax of Songs in Competing Claims to Produce a Jukebox Musical
Some of the most successful recent Broadway shows have been “jukebox” musicals. You know, shows that consist of taking a well-known recording artist’s hits and then staging them with a strung-together story. Think Jersey Boys, Motown: The Musical and Beatiful:The Carole King Musical. Shows like these are popular with producers because of the perceived minimized […]
The Justice Department Is Knocking on ASCAP & BMI’s Doors
The United States Department of Justice recently announced it would be conducting a review to examine the effectiveness of the ASCAP and BMI Consent Decrees. In announcing this review, DOJ stated: The Department understands that ASCAP, BMI and some other firms in the music industry believe that the Consent Decrees need to be modified to […]
Raging Bulls, the Supreme Court and Running the Clock on Copyright Infringement
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This case is a copyright infringement action regarding the iconic MGM film, Raging Bull, which garnered Robert De Niro a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of boxer Jake LaMotta (but failed to win one for its director, Martin Scorsese). The key issue […]
Higher Costs for Creators to Protect Their Rights
It seems like individual creators just can’t catch a break. As of yesterday, it became much more expensive for the majority of creative artists, particularly songwriters, recording artists and multi-media artists, to protect their works by registering them with the U.S. Copyright Office. While one does not need to register to obtain copyright protection, there […]
Synching Up Copyright, Contracts, Amazon and Warner Music Group
A little over a week ago, I attended through meetup.com, a panel discussion on synchronization licensing. As a refresher, synchronization licensing, or “synch” licensing, is the permission required to incorporate copyrighted music into audio-visual works, such as films TV shows, ads, videogames and, yes, YouTube videos. The panel was put together by Legal Hackers and […]
The Biggest Mistake Composers Make About The Music Business
I hear it all the time. Composers think that if they just sign up with a performing rights organization (PRO) like ASCAP or BMI that’s all they need to do to protect themselves. Don’t get me wrong – every composer should belong to a PRO. But there are at least seven ways a composer can […]