Legal Affairs Desk: Let Gaga’s People Go

According to a BBC Northern Ireland article:

“A woman charged with wounding her partner with a knife has had her bail conditions relaxed so she can go to a Lady Ga Ga concert in Belfast [on Saturday].

Hayley Mitchell, 32, of Sullenboy Park, Cookstown, is alleged to have attacked the man twice earlier this month…

The victim suffered a four inch cut on his upper lip, a cut to the head which required two staples and a number of other injuries to his face.”

…is that safe?

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Legal Affairs Desk: Who Makes Your Money?

We here at the legal affairs desk think a lot about how money, music, and the law interact. Hell, we made a desk to sit at and ruminate on those  very topics! Well, last week The New York Times came out with this fascinating article on how licensing firms collect royalties. I whole heartedly recommend this article to anyone who is curious about intellectual property and the economics of the music industry. However, while the article provides a descriptive view of the individuals involved in collecting artist’s royalties, it does leave the reader wanting for an explanation of how musicians get paid when songs get played.

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Leagal Affairs Desk: Road To Nowehere, Independently

Music is a powerful political tool; it both has aesthetic appeal and the ability to project a message.  It is then easy to understand why candidates for public office play music at rallies, appear with iconic musicians, or include songs in their commercials.  The impact of these tactics varies, but there have been some notably positive results: take, for example, the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign’s use of Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.”  Not only did it help to propel Clinton into the White House (though I will not go so far as to claim that the Mac is responsible for that achievement), but Clinton was apparently able to convince the then-broken-up band to play at his inaugural ball.

However, not all is well at the intersection of politicians and pop music.  Playtonic favorite David Byrne (who kinda looks like Charlie Crist nowadays) has filed suit in the Federal District Court in Tampa, Florida against Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who has been serving in that capacity as a Republican and is currently running for the open Senate seat as an Independent.  The charges stem from the alleged unauthorized use of the Talking Heads song “Road to Nowhere” in an online campaign ad that attacked rival Republican Marco Rubio.  Byrne has alleged both copyright infringement and false endorsement and is seeking $1 million in damages.  Unfortunately, the video has been removed from both Youtube and the Crist campaign website.

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Legal Affairs Desk: The Buck Stops At Unpaid Internships

Merry Monday Playtonics!

Over the weekend, we here at the Legal Affairs Desk caught wind of a NYTimes article titled “Growth of Unpaid Internships May Be Illegal, Officials Say.” According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, “In 2008, 83 percent of graduating students had held internships, up from 9 percent in 1992.” As the article points out, “This means hundreds of thousands of students hold internships each year; some experts estimate that one-fourth to one-half are unpaid.” These positions are often offered with the promise of resume building and education, however when interns perform menial tasks for no pay at for-profit companies, this appears to be a violation of worker’s rights.

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Legal Affairs Desk: Quick to Assassinate What They Do Not Understand

The Legal Affairs Desk takes a generally supportive line on nudity in the pursuit of artistic expression, which is why we were distressed to learn that “The Queen of Neo-Soul” Erykah Badu has been charged with disorderly conduct in relation to the recent filming of her new music video “Window Seat.”  The video shows Badu, a Dallas, Texas native, performing a walking striptease until entirely nude in Dealey Plaza, the site of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.

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Legal Affairs Desk: Axl Rose Sued By Management Company For Nearly $2 Million

All rise for the honorable Playtonic Judge of the esteemed Legal Affairs Desk!  Today’s legal affair? Axl Rose is being sued by his former manager who says the singer owes him close to $2 million in unpaid commissions. Front Line Management, founded by Irving Azoff, claims to have had an oral agreement with Rose for 15 percent of his commissions, due on more than $12 million of earnings from overseas performances. Thus far Rose is mum on the issue but we’ll post comments on this story if and when we hear anything more. Legal affair temporarily suspended!  [AP]

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Legal Affairs Desk: Grooving To A Stolen “Stylo”

Today, we here at the Legal Affairs Desk caught wind that an alleged robbery has taken place. Underground club artist Eddy Grant claims via the Internet that Gorillaz took significant portions of his song, “Time Warp” to make “Stylo” without giving him credit [via PrefixMag].

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Legal Affairs Desk: OK, Leave EMI

Hey Playtonics,

Yesterday our favorite Ptwon tipster, Anne “Shell Shock” Sheldon, told us about this PD/ Legal Affairs Desk (or “LAD”) approved story on NPR titled “OK Go Fights For Its Viral Video.” According to the article , OK GO has left EMI in part due to their insistence that websites should be stripped of their ability to embed the band’s Rube Goldberg-inspired music video for their new song “This Too Shall Pass.” We here at the Legal Affairs Desk would like to acknowledge that while no legal recourse was taken in said dispute, it appears that legal channels, though murky, exist to  mediate conflicts regarding embedding videos. The best result I found from a google search using the keywords “law”,  “embedding”, and “videos” turned up this article titled “Embedded Video and Copyright Infringement” from Citizen Media Law Project. Some IP lawyers are quoted and some laws are cited but the upshot is that it’s hard to say whether embedding a videos is legal. That comforts us here at the Legal Affairs Desk since we strive to report the law rather than break it.

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Legal Affairs Desk: God Only Knows It’s Not What We Would Choose To Do

From the always interesting and topical BBC comes this article regarding a recent lawsuit in the UK between Pink Floyd and their long-time record label EMI.  The band had sued the company to prevent them from breaking up their albums and selling the songs online as individual downloads, on the basis that the band’s contract had a clause that “preserve[s] the artistic integrity of the albums.”  In siding with Pink Floyd, the judge granted the band £40,000 ($60,000) and the possibility of a further fine for the company.  There is a further dispute regarding the calculation of royalty rates generated from online sales.

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