Imagine that you have a wireless network router in your home which you set up yourself. Also imagine that, because you are not computer saavy, you failed to establish a password for that router, or established a “weak” password consisting of only numbers, or your birthdate, or something of that nature. Consider now the proximity [...]
For a very reasoned commetary on the potential impact of Virgin v. Thomas on other Internet activity, read John Mahoney’s article entitled Forget File Sharing: the Internet is on Trial at his blog, The Digital Edge. Thanks for the insight John. Mr. Mahoney correctly points out that in this age of wireless technologies and computer [...]
In a blow to the Recording Industry Association of America, U.S. District Court judge Michael Davis ruled yesterday that the infamous president of the RIAA, Cary Sherman, could not testify in the trial of accused music-sharer Jammie Thomas because "nis testimony would not be relevant," despite the arguments of Plaintiff’s attorney, Richard Gabriel, that Sherman's [...]
Judge Michael Davis is moving the case of Virgin Records, et al. v. Jammie Thomas (Case No. 06–cv-1497) along quickly, as the jury was impaneled at 9:30 and testimony began less than two hours later in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. See my related blog entry True Test of RIAA’S Legal Theories [...]
After almost thirty years, my favorite band of all time, The Eagles, have recorded a new album entitled Long Road out of Eden, which features the single "How Long." The song is climbing the Billboard country chart and currently resides at No. 26. The new single was originally written and recorded by J.D. Souther in 1972 on his [...]
Although the Recording Industry Association of America started going after individual litigants in 2004, no case has yet to go to trial in front of a judge or jury. This is about to change. Since 2004, tens of thousands of claims have been filed by the RIAA. By now, everyone understands the strategy. The RIAA’s [...]
Florida businessmen, David Lowman, Bobby Land, and William Whitacre have announced the establishment of Radiance Records, a new independent country record label. Lowman’s music industry experience includes fifteen years as a recording and performing artist. Land grew up in Tennessee, graduated from Belmont University, and was signed as an artist with Hickory [...]
Law on the Row used to be a periodic newsletter in the physical world that I would send to my clients and mailing list. In the first edition of Law on the Row, published September 9, 1999, I published an article on digital downloading entitled “To MP3 or not to MP3? The catalyst for a [...]
Althought not particularly related to Music Row or the music industry in general, I find this little tidbit of news interesting, if not a bit entertaining, and I wanted to share it. The Associated Press reported yesterday that Ken Osmond, the actor who portrayed Eddie Haskell in the sitcom "Leave It to Beaver," has filed [...]
The Nashville Symphony Orchestra announced this month that it entered into a five-year contract with Giancarlo Guerrero, who will serve as their music director beginning in 2009. Guerrero will be the 8th conductor in the history of the Symphony, replacing the late Kenneth Schermerhorn, who led the Nashville Symphony for 22 years and was critically [...]