Springsteen sues NYC bar over royalties

[johnnie]

NEW YORK – Bruce Springsteen is suing a Manhattan pub, saying it failed to pay an annual licensing fee to an organization that distributes royalty payments to artists.

Springsteen claims the pub violated his copyrights by letting an unidentified band perform two of his songs for profit.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers brought the lawsuit Wednesday under Springsteen's name. ASCAP said it's important to set a precedent that protects the rights of songwriters everywhere.

ASCAP said Connolly's Pub — and other establishments — should know royalties are part of the music business.

A man who answered the phone at Connolly's on Thursday said the pub had no comment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100204/ap_en_mu/us_springsteen_copyright_suit



Good 'ol "blue collar Bruce", here's your 40 cents for the two songs.

[SoxFan]

1. ASCAP is a scum-sucking blight on humanity

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. I know there are many people who think artists shouldn't get paid, but Springsteen is right.

He has the moral high ground and he has the legal high ground.

Playing music without paying the royalty for it is no different than taking a CD from a CD story or walking out of a restaurant without paying.

Theft is theft, even when it involves non-material stuff.

[johnnie]

3. I do think artists should get paid but..

I wonder if he thought like this when he was a young twerp playing the bars in his early days struggling to make a few bucks. Of course if he never played cover songs back then then I guess he didn't have to think of it.

Bars typically pay an ASCAP and BMI fee to cover these things and maybe this certain club didn't. But maybe they, like many other companies, are having a bit of a rough time and I'm sure this lawsuit will help them even more.

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Since the fee is likely only a few hundred dollars, if they couldn't pay that,

then they are going out of business anyway.

[johnnie]

5. Good news

Bruce Springsteen wants his name off lawsuit against NYC bar.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bruce Springsteen wants his name off a lawsuit demanding licensing fees from a Manhattan bar where a band played his songs. A statement on Springsteen's website Thursday said he didn't know about the lawsuit that was filed Wednesday in federal court and wouldn't have agreed to be a plaintiff if he had been asked.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2010-02-04-springsteen-suit_N.htm?csp=34

I apologize to Bruce.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. Yes, I just saw that on the news feed!

How sneaky of ASCAP to name him without asking him first.

[Bennyboy]

7. He's got like 100 layers of business going on

I imagine.

[Orsino]

9. "Bruce Springsteen wants his name off lawsuit against NYC bar."

That deserves to make a subject line in this thread.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

8. I will give you a perfect example of "when" and "why" artists should not get paid.

1). Led FUCKING Zeppelin

A). Original vinyl release

B). Initial CD release from poor quality masters created from a vinyl LP

C). "Remastered" Led Zeppelin

D). "Box Set" "Remastered" Led Zeppelin

E). "Mothership "THIS TIME WE GOT IT RIGHT" Led Zeppelin"

FUCK Jimmy the Junkie, FUCK Plant.

NO "artist" deserves the right to sell the same song FIVE FUCKING TIMES.

The same applies to Hendrix.

And people wonder why we had a "Napster."

Fuck 'em ALL.

Do it ONCE, do it RIGHT, or GET FUCKED, "artists."

:grr:

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. That does piss me off. Paramount pisses me off with all the different Star Trek offerings, too

By the DVD of the movie!

Wait - 6 months later, it's the DVD with extra stuff!

12 months later its the remastered DVD with even more extra stuff!

Then it's the 3-movie collection box with the same versions on the second set, but with extra stuff that's not on any of the others!

and a year after that, it's the Official Mega-Awesome Release that we would have done the first time, but Star Trek is the only thing that makes money for us, so we have squeeze as much blood out of the stones of our fans as possible

And then, after all that, it's the box set of all the movies with the extra stuff ever released, plus maybe a poster and a plastic Enterprise, for a cost that's exactly half what it cost to buy the individual previous release of DVDs

And then when Blu-ray gets invented, do it all again!

[SteppingRazor]

11. Springsteen was unaware of the suit, and has come out against ASCAP:

http://newsblog.thecmuwebsite.com/post/Springsteen-disses-ASCAP-pub-litigation.aspx

[jberryhill]

12. I can't find the suit in the PACER system....

...but the attorney who signed as Springsteen's representative has a disciplinary problem on his hands.