Allman Brothers Band’s Lawyer Says Case Differs From Eminem’s

Hypebot asked the co-counsel in the Allman Brothers case against Sony for payment of digital royalties, Brian D. Caplan of Caplan & Ross, LLP, how their case differs from the one which Enimen recently lost:

"In that case there was an amendment to the subject 1998 recording agreement that dealt with 'the sale of albums by way of permanent download…' which treated downloads as a general royalty generating activity like the sale of a cd. In our case, no such language exists and the subject record agreements simply state that the artist is entitled to 50% of the licensing income SONY received from the lease of the artist’s master recordings. The judge in the Eminem case opined that the agreement between iTunes and Universal Music was a license."

Asked when other musicians could join the class action suit Caplan answered:

"When(and if) the court grants class certification down the road, class members
will have the opportunity to participate in the results of the proceeding. Until
such time, other artists do not “join” the case."