Browsing: Blues Law

Exclusive deals are entered all the time in the music industry. They DONT always involve guns and the destruction of an artists’ career who created one of today’s all-time blues standards…

Like many entertainment and IP attorneys, I’ve closely watched the copyright infringement case between the Estate of Marvin Gaye and Robin Thicke/Pharrell Williams over the song “Blurred Lines”.

There was no shortage of controversy surrounding Bessie Smith’s interaction with her record label. Find the fascinating, hidden decades-long fight over the Empress of the Blues’ music, some of the most powerful in blues history.

Stax Records signed a simple distribution agreement with independent giant Atlantic Records that, unknown to almost anyone at the time, would almost singlehandedly completely destroy the company…

Over the decades, the story of friendship and collaboration between musicologist John Lomax and folk/blues singer-songwriter Lead Belly has reached mythical proportions…

America’s history of censorship of music dates back even further than the First Amendment’s right to Free Speech. Something legendary singer Billie Holiday experienced firsthand…

In one of the longest legal battles in rock history, singer-songwriter and co-founder of Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty found himself defending a lawsuit that seemed like a bar-exam test question.

We all know the classic tracks that Robert Johnson laid down. Now discover the landmark legal battle between the Stones and Johnson’s estate that helped form copyright law.

A David & Goliath fight against record labels all started with a bouncy little song about a little bird that paved the way for a court case that determined who gets compensated for cover songs.

The classic boogie blues riff that was first recorded by John Lee Hooker in 1948’s “Boogie Chillun” became the basis for the court case against Z.Z. Top in 1992!