Fair is not always “Fair Use”

The concept of “fair use” is a very misunderstood concept.  The first common misunderstanding that people espouse is that the concept of “fair use” is a right or privilege granted by copyright law.  It is not.  Secondly, many people mistakenly believe that so long as they do not make any money from an infringing use [...]

By |2015-03-21T22:05:03-05:00March 13th, 2008|Copyright Issues, Entertainment Law, Music Law, RIAA, Songwriting|Comments Off on Fair is not always “Fair Use”

“More than a Feeling” – Momma, look what they’ve done to my song!

I received a call from one of my readers to address the topic of whether a songwriter has the ability to restrict the use of his or her composition in the instance it is being used in advancing a cause opposite to that espoused by the songwriter.  This was spawned, of course, by the recent [...]

By |2008-03-05T11:51:11-06:00March 5th, 2008|Copyright Issues, Entertainment Law, Music Law, RIAA|Comments Off on “More than a Feeling” – Momma, look what they’ve done to my song!

The Magic Bubble Bursts: Did the Record Labels make their own grave?

For almost a decade now, the major labels (at the beginning there were five of them, now only four, EMI, Sony BMG, Vivendi Universal and Warner) have declared that illegal downloading is ravaging their business by destroying the sales of physical product.  One may question this declaration, however, in few of the fact that ever [...]

By |2007-12-03T17:12:24-06:00December 3rd, 2007|Digital Downloads, Entertainment Law, Life on the Row, Music Law, RIAA|Comments Off on The Magic Bubble Bursts: Did the Record Labels make their own grave?

Last Man Standing – collaborating with other songwriters

See Jane. See Jane write lyrics. See Dick. See Dick write melodies. See Dick meet Jane. See Dick and Jane combine their efforts and collaborate together to write a song. This is one frequent story among Nashville's songwriting community.  On any given afternoon in Nashville, there will be innumerable co-writing sessions occurring at any given [...]

By |2015-03-21T22:26:14-05:00November 2nd, 2007|Copyright Issues, Entertainment Industry News, Music Industry, Music Law, RIAA, Songwriting|Comments Off on Last Man Standing – collaborating with other songwriters
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