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.