Slashdot Mirror
Eminem Sues Apple for Sampling his Samples
EvanKai writes "To celebrate Grey Tuesday, Eminem sues Apple to show his support for hiphop and sampling. CBS MarketWatch is reporting
that 'Rapper Eminem's music publisher is suing Apple Computer Inc., claiming the company used one of the hip-hop superstar's songs in a television advertisement without permission. Eight Mile Style filed the copyright infringement suit late last week against Apple, Viacom Inc., its MTV subsidiary and the TBWA/Chiat/Day advertising agency.' While the ad in question no longer appears, several similar ads can be found here. I can't believe Chiat Day failed to clear the use of these songs with Pink, Mariah Carey, and The Who... or whatever major label actually owns the rights."
Also has a story on this. The kicker is it all rhymes!
-EB
Do you ever walk alone like a drifter in the dark?
Quoth the FA:
Eminem responded by ending discussions with Apple, according to the suit.
Cheers.
It wouldn't be cheaper because you could sue for the rate that you were asking plus "damages". So what would normally have cost them $10 million will now probably cost them 15-20.
Unless you want to pull a Ray Parker. The studios who made Ghostbusters (name eludes me at the moment) asked Huey Lewis for rights to use his songs in Ghostbusters. When he denied them permission, they took the music to "I want a new Drug" and sped it up. Put lyrics in by Ray Parker and made the Ghostbusters theme.
Of coursse, it went to court and they had to pay out the azz, but they still got what they want.
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
Eminem, or M&M as you call it, comes from the fact that his real name is Marshall Mathers - hence the M and M.
Slim Shady...well that's just pure egotism.
No. They sample all the time, espescially in hip hop/rap, but they clear it with the copyright holders.
The Verve lost a huge lawsuit for "Bittersweet Symphony", the sample they used was from a Rolling Stones concert, for instance.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Anyone who creates a work of literature, if it be lyrics, a book, etc, has a copyright, but then if they choose they can become a registered copyright, which is a legal copyright, it holds up in court a lot better than just saying "hey I wrote that you fruity bastard!"
Dr. Dre hires musicians to play baselines differently so that it will fit the legal requirements and he will not be required to pay royalties to the person he is "sampling".
If he copies a baseline verbatim (or actually samples their record), he pays them a royalty.
This isn't his decision, this is the decision made by the politicians that made the laws so restrictive. Paul's Boutique could never be made today, because the sampling is too extensive and it would be impossible for the record company to clear the record legally.
Advertisers must license every song that they use in their advertisements. Unlike "sampling," advertising has always worked this way, afaik. I see very little wrong with The Rolling Stones charging Billy G so many millions to use "Start Me Up."
So, go white boy go white boy go white boy go. Take those fat cats down. They knew they were supposed to get a license.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
Not "freely". Publishing rights and royalties are always worked out ahead of time, even for the smallest of samples. Failure to do so results in disastrous lawsuits and LARGE royalties being paid out to the original artist/publisher. This happened when Peter Gunz & Lord Tariq sampled Steely Dan's Black Cow for their Deja Vu (Uptown Baby). Steely Dan was awarded six figures plus sole writing credit and rights to all future publishing, which pretty much meant that Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz made about $5 off the platinum single.
El riesgo vive siempre!
This is an interesting case. Anyone has the right to "cover" a copyrighted work, as long as the compulsory license is paid to the publisher (usually a per performance, or per mechanical fee).
However, in the case of endorsement, a specific license is indeed required (my wife - IANAL, but she is, ahem -- handles these from time to time). If the kid "singing" the song can be construed as an endorsement (probably), then Eminem deserves compensation.
Also, his likely fee ($10M) is definitely in the ballpark. You'd be amazed how much established artists make for these licenses. In fact, using an original song is usually so prohibitively expensive, that the licensor usually opts for a license to use a "cover" version only (much cheaper, but still a lot of money). That's why when you hear famous songs in commercials, they're often covers. FYI, in these cases, the language in these contracts usually requires a cover not to sound exactly like the original recording.
It's not fair use. It's a public broadcast, in an advertisement designed to make money. Nice try though.
Haida Manga
"apple music who?"??! nobody's heard of them? you realize that they're the beatle's record label, owned by paul mccartney and ringo starr, right?
Well, M and M are his initials...
-sam
I was just here, where did I go?
Covers are completely legal, which is what this would be.
You just have to notify the copyright holder and pay less than 10 cents per download (not sure what it is for commercial useage.)
Now, INAL but I have been looking into music copyright recently.
-Tim
-I just work here... how am I supposed to know?
In the article, it says that it was a performance of the song done by someone else. This type of use does not need to be cleared, even for advertising. How many ads haven't you seen that have a well known song, but performed by someone else?
Eminem, however, is listed as part composer for this commercial and every time it is played, he will/should be reimbursed for his efforts. But I can tell you that those rates are nothing to write home about.
The only time you need clearance, or a license, to use a recording for a commercial is if you use, well, the actual recording. This could be the case, as the soundtrack for this performance may contain samples from the original, but there is no way to tell from the articles.
If those samples do not exist in the commercial, Mr. Slim is acting kinda Shady in this case...
dont be silly.
String got writing credits on Puff Daddy's cover of Every Breath You take. (The cover is called "I'll be missing you.") I can't believe how many people think Puff Daddy got away with something there. Shit, Stevie Wonder got writing credits on "Wild Wild West", another unoriginal hiphop cover that most people think was blatantly ripped off.
Not that re-recording a bassline can get you out of copyright litigation, since copyright infringement has nothing to do with the bits, and everything to do with the order and arrangement of notes, regardless of what instrument plays it, or what key you transpose it to.
"Old man yells at systemd"
Not only did they The Verve lose a lawsuit against The Stones, but also has successful legal challenges from Andrew Loog Oldham who owns the rights to all Pre 1968 Stones songs...
Worse than that, because the courts has ruled the due to the Sample, The Verve did not own the song, the Stones management then licensed the song to be used in adverts for Nike and Vauxhall...
queen did sue vanilla ice.
van halen did sue tone loc.
the WCW/WWE did have to pay the estate of jimi hendrix for use of hendrix's music.
it took about 5 minutes on Google to confirm those 3. not sure about the rest though. i can't spend all day on google now, can i?
Slackware
As others have pointed out, Apple's ad agency used an entirely new, original recording of a person singing the song in question.
Such use is covered by the compulsory license provisions of 17 USC 115, part of the copyright title of the United States Code:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/115.html
As long as Apple provided notice to the copyright holder (usually the publishing company that owns the publishing rights to the music and lyrics) and paid the compulsory license fee, they're in the clear. They do NOT need permission for this.
Furthermore, since Eminem's likeness and the sound of his voice were not used at all in the ad, it's highly unlikely that there's any merit at all to the assertion that he is somehow entitled to fees for an endorsement of their product.
Since the licenses described in 17 USC 115 are compulsory and the fees are explicitly spelled out, that chunk of statute probably precludes any further claims Eminem could make unless what they did in the commercial went beyond the scope of the compulsory license. Based on what I saw in those ads it almost certainly did not.
This one's probably dead on summary judgment. I'd be surprised if Apple even tried to settle this one for more than their projected legal costs to get to a ruling on that.
-- Mark
From http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html:
"10 Big Myths about copyright explained"
"The "fair use" exemption to (U.S.) copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author."
Apple was not doing any of the above things. They were using the song in an advertisement for their product. Fair use doesn't apply in a commercial context.
Which is of course more proof that IP law in the U.S. as it is now practiced is antithetical to the founding fathers reason for allowing it. How can it be promoting the arts and sciences when failing to get clearance for a single sample means that all revenue from an entire album is no longer the artists?!?! Sampling does NOT harm the origional artists just as small quotes and attributions in written works do not harm their origional authors. Heck you should be able to create a work made solely from samples so long as you list where the samples are from, that would be in line with how copyright works in the written world.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
It had to already be mentioned, but if not here it is. The Slim Shady LP sampled a song called Pigs Go Home and was sued by the current copyright owner, a 70 year old grandmother.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Lois, this isn't my Batman glass. - Peter
Eight Mile Style filed the copyright infringement suit ... At issue is an ad for Apple's iTunes pay-per-download music software, in which a 10-year-old sings Eminem's "Lose Yourself."
I agree. If a 10-year-old is singing the song, then it is a new performance (unless Eminem has a time machine.) To use Eminem's song for a new performance requires "mechanical rights", which are automatically granted for a set fee. Mechanical rights are applied for selling something that includes the copyright (but not perfomances) of an artist. I believe that should apply to advertising that does not include the artist's performance, but IANAL.
Most songs are handled by the The Harry Fox Agency (HFA). Eminem has 50 songs listed at Songfile.com, which is HFA's online license application for low volume use. The list does not include "Lose Yourself". If the song is not handled by HFA, then you must contact the publisher directly.
There is a lawsuit, so somebody believes they had the right to tell Apple they could not use lyrics in a commercial. But it is not about a "sample", because Apple did not use a "sample" of Eminem's performance.
I spend my life entertaining my brain.
also from here this bit about the song and copyright law:
So for those arguing that a "cover" of the song can sung without obtaining any rights, I would have a say that a precedence has been set and it does not appear to be in favor of Apple and Chiat Day.
I like microcars
Actually, he did ask first.
Mathers gave permission for the song, but then wouldn't allow it to be released as either a single, or for a video for it to be produced.
Al mocked this decision during the Poodle Hat tour with one of his 'interviews', by turning it around on Mathers as a free speach issue.
It was extremely funny.
(4th row, opening concert, Poodle Hat tour; aka, the sound check.)
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.