Someone oughta sell tickets.
Randy White, owner of Randzz biker bar “conveniently located in the middle of nowhere,” Virginia is currently facing a lawsuit from ASCAP, because some middle aged weekend warriors covered some Tom Petty songs in his place without a license. White may have to shut down his whole operation as a result, as he can’t likely afford the whopping $10,500 in “statutory damages” plus $3,300 for the ASCAP attorney fees and related costs. Full story here.
If Bono of U2 had his way, White would be in even more dire straits (not covered at Randzz to our knowledge). The MusicFIRST Coalition has filed a complaint against the FCC claiming that the “certain artist” had his new single pulled from the airwaves because he spoke in support of their efforts to coax radio stations into paying performers royalties, in addition to the royalties they currently pay songwriters. We don’t take issue with that necessarily. However with about 200 other artists endorsing MusicFirst, all apparently unaffected, including Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas (who radio is playing the shit out of these days), we find the alternative notion that U2’s Magnificent simply flopped itself off radio playlists far more believable. Read the complaint here.
In other news, via Slashot, David has purchased a Desert Eagle and is reportedly inquiring as to Goliath’s whereabouts. Kiwi Camara (Jammie Thomas-Rasset’s new lawyer) is taking the RIAA’s prosecution head-on, attempting to dismantle their entire witch hunt from the ground up, starting with the question of whether they even own any of those allegedly infringed copyrights. Camara, along with Joel Tenenbaum’s lawyer Charles Nesson, plans to file a class-action suit seeking to force the RIAA to return all the money they’ve earned from their litigation campaigns.
Is there a way I can contact authorities to get cover bands and cover band bars shut down? I would totally do that.
just wow
“White would be in even more dire straits (not covered at Randzz to our knowledge)”
I lol’d
“If Bono of U2 had his way, White would be in even more dire straits ” I’m assuming this statements means…exactly what it says. I’m also 90% sure that U2 started out as a sucky cover band. I think that makes Bono an ass.
[...] June, we reported that a biker bar in Virginia was facing a lawsuit from ASCAP because some weekend warriors played some cover songs in the establishment, who couldn’t [...]