The publisher of Eminem's music has filed a federal lawsuit against computer giant Apple Inc. for selling downloads of his songs without permission. Apple has an agreement with Universal Music Group, the record company that owns the recordings, but doesn't deal directly with publishers, who own the rights to scores and lyrics. In the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, the rapper's music publisher, Eight Mile Style, and copyright manager Martin Affiliated seek more than $75,000 for copyright infringement, unfair competition and a violation of the Michigan consumer protection act. The lawsuit also asks for damages of up to $150,000 per infringement - or each time a song is downloaded
Eight Mile Style administrator Joel Martin says the lawsuit involves 70 to 80 songs, including tracks from the Grammy Award-winning "The Eminem Show." Apple had no comment Tuesday, spokesman Tom Neumayr said. Eight Mile Style attorney Norman Ankers contends that record companies need permission from copyright holders before downloads can be authorized. "This is a significant issue in the music industry," Ankers said. "This occurs with many artists and many record labels."
Eight Mile Style administrator Joel Martin says the lawsuit involves 70 to 80 songs, including tracks from the Grammy Award-winning "The Eminem Show." Apple had no comment Tuesday, spokesman Tom Neumayr said. Eight Mile Style attorney Norman Ankers contends that record companies need permission from copyright holders before downloads can be authorized. "This is a significant issue in the music industry," Ankers said. "This occurs with many artists and many record labels."
Apple charges 99 cents for most song downloads. Recording companies get about 70 cents of that, and pass on 9 cents of that fee to publishers. "Generally, artists want their music sold," Martin said. "We want it downloaded. We request that any provider that's offering downloads license it through the publisher. Apple is not accounting to us. They are accounting to Universal (Music)," he said.
Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is from Detroit. "The Eminem Show" sold 7.6 million copies.
Eight Mile Style also sued Apple in 2004 for copyright infringement. That lawsuit alleged that Apple used Eminem's "Lose Yourself" in commercial TV ads for its iTunes music store. The case was settled out of court.
News source: MyWay
Companies like Apple would need to get permissions from the Record Company (Universal) and also from each individual artist (Eminem), if this didn't cause a rise in prices it would definetly lead to less artists being available.
Although I must admit I do smile a little inside everytime Apple loses a lawsuit.
Simple solution is , if an artist doesnt want his songs on the internet he should tell to the record company , if nothing is said against it , then the artist allows his song to be d/l.
I believe artists tend to win more money doing concerts than selling cds ( contracts not included )
Not really. Even if you take away from it the fact that he, himself, may well have lost revenue as a result of this and therefore technically lessening the pay he received for the work he had done, I still think there is a very good reason why he is not "greedy".
Eminem himself almost certainly didn't activate this suit. The hordes of publishers, marketing execs etc all have a piece of the Enimen brand and therefore ALSO loose out ultimately.
It's in his entourage/execs best interest to win these sorts of cases in order to keep themselves in pocket as well as the entertainer.
Read between the lines.
yes, i really feel unsafe... they sure interfered my consumer protection... uhm WHAT? LOL?!
+
150k per download? ROFLMAO, good luck
Glassed Silver:mac
LMAO
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