The
entertainment industry is famous for being the source for many legal
controversies. Issues dealing with
plagiarism, performing licenses, and infringement are rampant throughout the
entertainment world. Considering the
numerous laws and regulations protecting creative assets, it becomes easy to
see how often legal cases can happen.
In one case
in Korea, the Hyundai Department Store was accused of illegally playing music
throughout their store and was demanded royalties by the Federation of Korean
Music Performers (FKMP) and Korean Association of Phonogram Producers
(KAPP). Normally, any place that plays
music for their patrons to hear, including live music venues and shopping stores,
performance licenses need to be obtained.
However, the case was dismissed because the court deemed that the music
was played using an online music service provider and cannot be seen as music
actually for sale. The Hyundai
Department Store was in a legal agreement to play music supplied by KT Music, a
local music provider. Cases involving
performing music in some way are always tedious. In a previous post, I mentioned that small
venues have been forced to shut down their live music because of their
inability to pay for the licenses or even regulate the performing of only original
songs.
Plagiarism
is no stranger within the world of music.
Recently, will.i.am was reported to have used a sample from DJs Arty andMat Zo without permission. Will.i.am
contacted Arty after hearing the song “Rebound” and wanted to collaborate. When Arty expressed his interest in this
venture, will.i.am took the positive response as permission record his vocals
over the existing song to record as a new version, “Let’s Go”. Will.i.am believed he was in his legal right
to use the producers’ song because he credited Arty in the liner notes,
thinking this was all the permission he needed.
In my strictly personal opinion, I feel that much of today’s popular
music is mostly comprised of unoriginal content. While many aspiring music producers now have
more accessible resources to hone their craft, they can tend to create lazy and
uninspired works by taking samples from other artists and piggy-backing off of
their success. As with the case
involving will.i.am, taking another artist’s craft and using it to create your
own can lose the respect from many followers.
The BlackKeys have claimed that a casino used a song of theirs in their advertisements. Pinnacle Entertainment, the company that runs
the L’Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles, and Manhattan Production Music, the
company that sells similar-sounding songs for advertising purposes, are being
accused of using the song “Howlin’ For You”.
The band has also sued Pizza Hut and Home Depot in the past for using
their songs, as well. As an artist, I
can understand the frustration of hearing a song I created being used for other
purposes with no mention of it being my original work or without being
compensated. But, with the vast amount
of music being created every day, there are only so many chord progression
combinations used within popular music that the possibility of coincidences is
bound to happen.
