Some Recent Lawsuits In Music

I have read three articles recently that were of a very interesting nature regarding legal issues in the entertainment industry.  The first article I came across, dealt with a Russian social network site that has been providing unlicensed music to consumers online.  The company is called VKontakte and is in big trouble with the Recording Industry Association of America, because of the unlicensed music that this service is providing. 

The RIAA recently filed with the U.S. Trade Representative’s office on October 26, 2011, and mentions about how the social website is “undermining the growth of the international music marketplace” (Recording Industry Association of America, 2011).  This type of thing upsets me, because I am sure that the industry is well aware of sites like this one that sells unlicensed music.  It makes me think back to the Napster area and how much of a big deal it was at the time.  It is a very interesting article that music biz insiders should check out.

The second article that I found spoke about a lawsuit between pop group The Black Eyed Peas and an unknown artist named Phoenix Phenom.  The lawsuit was over the popular BEP song “Boom, Boom, Pow”, and Phoenix Phenom claimed that the idea came from her.  The court determined that the songs were similar, but not similar enough to warrant infringement to Phoenix Phenom (Wolfe, 2011).

This article is a typical situation of unknown artists trying to get their 15 minutes of fame, and by suing a famous group supposedly would bring that fame.  It is sad that some people have to resort to these kinds of tactics in order to make it big in music.  There is always going to be some similarities between songs, but to sue somebody over it would take some serious proof on the plaintiff’s part.

The last article I came across dealt with Prince being sued by a New York perfume company.  The lawsuit is because of the “Purple Rain” perfume that was named after Prince’s famous album, and Prince was accused of not holding up his end of the deal (Associated Press, 2011).

 Prince was supposed to help promote the perfume, but never did which is what brought the lawsuit into play.  As busy of a musician that I am sure that Prince still is, there is not reason that he could not have received some screen time for the promotion.  He has not been in the public eye much lately, and I think that the promotion could have helped both parties a great deal.

Steve Jobs: iSad (1955-2011)

I read an article on the LA Times’s website about the recent passing of Apple, Inc. CEO Steve Jobs, and how much he revolutionized the world itself.  According to Randy Lewis, Steve Jobs rescued the music industry from the near death state that it was in, and had given music lovers new freedom in finding music  (Lewis, 2011).  Since the record industry was already on life support, because of online music piracy and file sharing of free music, Steve Jobs was in many ways the savior that the industry desperately needed.

            According to Robert Santelli, Executive Director of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, said that Steve Jobs’ inventions of the iPod, iPad etc., have been just as important as the significance of the Sony Walkman and the Cassette (Lewis, 2011).  I could not agree more, because Steve Jobs really made it fun to listen to and buy music again.  There was a time when specific artists released an album, and I would really get excited when I could get it in different formats.

            To be able to have music in multiple formats makes things so much easier to transfer from one form to another.  Steve Jobs literally changed the way that we buy music and store it.  Another interesting piece about the article that stood out, was about the impact of iTunes on the sales of single songs.  In the first year of iTunes’s existence in 2003, digital downloads added up to 30 million.  In the span of two years sales had skyrocketed to 1.2 billion song downloads, which is just insane to say the least in numbers alone.

            I agree with many others that believe Steve Jobs was a true visionary who has single handedly transformed our world, and has created a fun music buying world again for all to enjoy (Lewis, 2011).  I am sure that his passing with affect the world for many years to come, and I truly hope that his successor is just as passionate about humanity as his predecessor was.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-et-jobs-music-20111007,0,653159.story