Musician’s Guide to Music Copyright Law [Free Book Excerpt]
Get a free peak at the first chapter of Jim Jesse’s Musician’s Guide to Music Copyright Law [2nd Ed.} The book covers 10 essential rules every artist should know, from understanding copyrights and music publishing to navigating the digital revolution and streaming.
Musician’s Guide to Music Copyright Law
by Jim Jesse of Rock N’ Roll Law
You can purchase the book here.
CHAPTER 1
A “Bittersweet” Story
or
“Why It’s Important to Know About This Stuff”
In 1965, the Rolling Stones had a hit with the song “The Last Time” from their album Out of Our Heads. Their first manager (and producer) was Andrew Loog Oldham. A couple of years later, he did an orchestral version of the song. Last I checked, you can listen to it on YouTube. Oldham actually needed Mick and Keith’s permission because it was not a straight-up cover—it was an orchestral version of a song with lyrics.
More on that later when we get to derivative works.
In the mid-90’s the British rock group The Verve landed a huge hit with their song “Bittersweet Symphony.” The song’s main hook was based on the string section of Oldham’s song. The song’s lyrics were written by The Verve’s vocalist Richard Ashcroft. Originally, The Verve had negotiated a license to use a sample from the Oldham recording with his record label, Decca. As documented in Fred Goodman’s recent biography of music business manager Allen Klein, who died in 2009, the rights to the composition and recording were both owned by ABKCO, Klein’s company. Hence, ABKCO was the US publisher for The Stones’ song “The Last Time” as well as much of their material from the ‘60s and early ‘70s. The Verve had failed to contact ABKCO prior to “Bittersweet’s” release.
Klein was a ruthless negotiator who made it a personal mission to win any dispute. He was also very litigious, having been involved in approximately 40 plus lawsuits over his career. Klein also had the upper hand because the song had already been released and was a huge hit before The Verve retroactively sought a license from ABKCO. “We were told it was going to be a 50/50 split, and then they saw how well the record was doing,” says band member Simon Jones. “They rung up and said, ‘We want 100 percent or take it out of the shops, you don’t have much choice.'” While Ashcroft is listed as a co-author for writing the lyrics to the song, he was paid a paltry $1,000 to transfer them to ABKCO. After shaking down The Verve, Klein told a friend, “I was very bad today.”
After losing the composer credits to the song, Richard Ashcroft commented, “This is the best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years,” noting it was their biggest UK hit since “Brown Sugar.” Ashcroft is quoted as saying that “despite all the legal angles and the bullshit, strip down to the chords, the lyrics and the melody, you realize there is such a good song there.”
In a ‘Cash for Questions’ interview with Q magazine published in January 1999, Keith Richards was asked if he thought it was harsh taking all The Verve’s royalties from “Bittersweet Symphony,” to which he replied, “I’m out of whack here, this is serious lawyer shit. If The Verve can write a better song, they can keep the money.”
There are many ironies to this story. The two biggest are these. First, The Stones’ influence for their song is a tune by The Staple Singers called “This May Be the Last Time.” The Stones’ song sounds so much like the Staples’ song that I have seen it on a list of the best Stones’ covers of all time even though the Staples’ song came out ten years before The Stones’ tune. In his autobiography, Keith also copped to ripping off The Staples. By the way, you generally cannot copyright a song title—many songs have the same or similar titles. The second irony is that the string riff The Verve used from the Oldman composition sounds nothing like The Stones’ song, and was written by the arranger David Whitaker, who was never even given credit for it. We will revisit this case later, but it illustrates the importance that songwriters and musicians (or their attorneys) know the basics of music copyright law and get the necessary permissions before a song is released.
Now, in June 2019, there was a significant new development to this saga. You will have to go to the chapter on derivatives for an update.
Musician’s Tip: You generally cannot copyright a song title; a lot of songs have the same or similar song titles. If a song title is really unique, you could try for a trademark. And, clear your licenses before your song comes out if you use samples.
You can purchase the book here.
