Weir To Sue Wolfgang's Vault

[balogna pogna]

I think you'd need to mail that cheque to Marty Robbins.

[color:purple]What is he suing now too?

Geez!

[Kanada Kev]

http://tinyurl.com/yedh5z

Free Love Forever, Free Music Never

Rock memorabilia website Wolfgang’s Vault responds to lawsuit from aging hippie bands.

December 26, 2006

By Eydie Cubarrubia

The Grateful Dead were once lauded for allowing fans to record and share concerts for free. Now the band is part of a “shakedown,†a memorabilia website said Monday.

Members of the Dead, as well as musicians from Led Zepplin, The Doors, and Santana, filed a lawsuit last week against Wolfgang’s Vault claiming the site was illegally streaming vintage concert recordings (see Rock Bands Sue Online Archive). Legal representatives for the website, however, said the lawsuit had nothing to do with illegal sharing or downloads.

“Wolfgang’s Vault brought all of this decades’-old material legally, paid their rightful owner and own all the rights necessary to conduct its business,†attorney Michael Elkin of the law firm Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner said in a press release.

The lawsuit—filed in San Francisco in the United States District Court of the Northern District of California—represents a new twist in the digital music wars. Despite the success of music sharing as viral marketing, many popular musicians and major labels worry that digital availability could cut into revenues. That’s not a frivolous concern, since the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry reports that CD sales fell to $17.02 million in 2005 from $18.11 in 2005 while physical single sales fell to $721 million from $821 million.

“The lawsuit has nothing to do with artists’ rights and everything to do with others in the industry seeking to seize profits and shakedown Wolfgang’s Vault and its owner, Bill Sagan,†Mr. Elkin said. He claimed that Wolfgang’s Vault owned the right to use its archives as it sees fit.

But musicians have claimed that they should have final say regarding the way their work or images are used.

“What Sagan is doing is stealing,†said Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead in a statement. “He is stealing what is most important to us—our work, our images, and our music—and is profiting from the good will of our fans.â€

Added Carlos Santana in a statement: “Bill [Graham, who originally owned the Wolfgang’s material] was a close friend to me and the Santana Band for many years, and I know that what Sagan is doing would go against everything he believed in.â€

The whole thing could boil down to a generation gap. The Dead famously allowed fans with recording equipment to document live shows and share with fellow fans—but those were hard copies, such as cassette tapes, that were the latest technology during the heydays of that and other bands.

There’s always hope that the lawsuit could be resolved amicably. Take the Beatles, which has often battled computer-maker Apple for having a name and logo similar to the Fab Four’s own distribution company.

After their latest spat, many reports began to emerge that the Beatles could, finally, start to sell downloads of songs through iTunes (see I Wanna Hold Your…iPod?). Maybe they got wind of the fact that, according to the IFPI, digital sales grew 188 percent from $397 million in $2004 to $1.14 billion in 2005.

Those figures could help foster better cooperation between vintage bands and online sources. All you need is love—at least, love of money.