Sue-ing Question..
- Thread starter Pak Dan
- Start date
You should read the article with Heather Nelson, an entertainment lawyer, in the new issue of STASH.
She gives some great advice on music and entertainment law.
To sum it up, yes an artist can be sued for not having the proper paperwork and permissions from the record label or the copyright owner of the song. There have been reports of some clubs across the country getting sued for playing Michael Jackson music by whatever record label that owns Michael Jackson's music. But of course these are major cases, and if a local artist used an instrumental from a major label artist and the song was played in the club.. it would be really low on the radar.
She gives some great advice on music and entertainment law.
To sum it up, yes an artist can be sued for not having the proper paperwork and permissions from the record label or the copyright owner of the song. There have been reports of some clubs across the country getting sued for playing Michael Jackson music by whatever record label that owns Michael Jackson's music. But of course these are major cases, and if a local artist used an instrumental from a major label artist and the song was played in the club.. it would be really low on the radar.
This is false and probably the biggest misconception about copyright infringement. It does not matter if you make money or not. Infringement is infringement like theft is theft. This also goes for people who think they can put "for promotional use only" on their mixtapes and it saves them legally. WRONG. It does nothing but put their ignorance of the law on display.
The bottom line is if you use someone elses music without consent, you are violating copyright law and are subject to legal resource. Period. There's no ifs, ands or buts about it. Just because you can be sued doesn't mean you will be but without that option is NEVER off the table.
For more read: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html
The bottom line is if you use someone elses music without consent, you are violating copyright law and are subject to legal resource. Period. There's no ifs, ands or buts about it. Just because you can be sued doesn't mean you will be but without that option is NEVER off the table.
For more read: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html
