The streaming rock n’ roll music site fights back with a vengeance and countersues the bands and music labels that accuse it of illegally broadcasting content without the artists’ consent.
It was about 3 months ago that Wolfgang’s Vault was sued by a number of artists upset over the fact that old concert footage and recordings that featured them was being streamed for free over the internet without them seeing so much as a dime in royalties.
Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Carlos Santana, and other legendary rock n’ roll heavyweights were angered by what they considered to be illegal usage of "their" music.
The story began when William Sagan purchased well-known concert promoter Bill Graham’s assets from Clear Channel Entertainment for $5 million USD 3 years ago and then began streaming the hundreds of audio and video clips that Graham collected over a 30-year period last November.
"Sagan simply doesn’t have the legal rights to exploit and profit from the extraordinary success of these musicians," lawyer Jeff Reeves, who represents the artists, told the Los Angeles Times.
"This memorabilia was created in the first place for the purposes of promoting concerts and as gifts for fans and concert crew. Graham himself did not have the right to sell, reproduce or otherwise exploit these materials as a promoter."
"We have never given permission for our images and material to be used in this way," said Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead.
Well, now Sagan is countersuing the artists, who he thinks are merely proxies for the record labels, and the record labels themselves. Wolfgang’s Vault attorney Michael Elkin recently filed a 40-page counterclaim against the musicians and their labels, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group.
"Far from being about bootlegging, consumer confusion or infringement of any sort, this case is actually a blatant attempt by two of the largest record labels in the world — using artists as a front — to secure new income streams and destroy a legitimate business," the suit says.
The suit also alleges that the two record companies unsuccessfully sought to negotiate licenses to the concert footage, and when that was not possible, "conspired with each other to concoct fictitious legal claims in an effort to appropriate for themselves the use of musical recordings through an abuse of this judicial process."
The artists claim that the IP rights to the concert footage couldn’t be transferred to Sagan in the first place without permission from the artists. Additionally, they allege that a federal anti-bootlegging statute disallows the broadcast of concert footage without an artist’s formal consent.
Wolfgang’s Vault’s countersuit claims that Sony BMG and Warner met on several occasions last year to recruit artists and conspire to "disrupt and dismantle" the site and undermine Sagan’s ability to stream his acquired content.
It seeks a declaratory judgment that it legally acquired the footage, and is also suing for libel, fraudulent deceit, breach of contract, tortious interference, civil conspiracy, with unspecified punitive damages being sought.
It’s hard to tell who’s in the wrong here but, I tend to believe the side whose pockets are the least deep in any disagreement. Having said that, I don’t think that if I were an artist that I’d be very happy with a site that streams my band and its music without my permission.
In any event, if you haven’t checked out Wolfgang’s Vault already I recommend you do so now. With awesome live concert recordings like Stevie Ray Vaughan, for instance, playing a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s "Voodoo Chile" in Austin, TX back in 1984, or Santana playing live in Balboa Park in San Diego, CA back in 1972, it’s a perfect fix for any sensible audiophile out there.
CHECK OUT WOLFGANG"S VAULT
digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/Wolfgang_s_Vault_fights_back_says_the_record_labels_can_t_destroy_us’;
RELATED NEWS AND “HOW TO” GUIDES:
How to Download Videos From YouTube and MySpace
How to Rip Music From MySpace
BitTorrent torrent sites & search engines
Azureus – A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent Downloading
Tons of Your Favorite Movies On-Demand for FREE!
Watch The Simpsons, The Office, Jackass, South Park, Lost, X-Men, and More On-Demand For Free
TVU, Free P2P Cable TV
vNES: play Nintendo games in your internet browser
SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”
Related Posts
- Rock stars want to seal Wolfgang’s Vault
- Stream thousands of Rock N’ Roll concert classics for free on “Wolfgang’s Vault”
- Artists organize efforts against Record Labels
- Record Labels: Licensing File Sharing Isn’t So Crazy After All
- Record labels count cost of music piracy
Loading ...
The streaming rock n’ roll music site fights back with a vengeance and countersues the bands and music labels that accuse it of illegally broadcasting content without the artists’ consent.