Frank Zappa's widow sues EMusic

In yet another claim against a component of the music industry, Gail Zappa, widow of the late Frank Zappa, alleges EMusic distributed her husband's songs without licensing the underlying publishing rights, says her lawyer, Yakub Hazzard.

Consequently, she's filed a lawsuit against EMusic in US District Court in Los Angeles over copyright infringement, says Gwendolyn Mariano in a CNET News.com story here.

"In a statement, EMusic said it sold 'a small collection' of Zappa songs on its Web site in 1999 under a licensing deal with Zappa's label Rykodisc, but it pulled the songs about a year ago," says the report. "The company said it has agreed to pay the going rate for the songs and had been negotiating in good faith with the Zappa estate over back royalties when the suit was filed Friday.

" 'It is unfortunate that the Zappa estate has chosen to pursue legal action on an issue that represents such an extremely small dollar amount'," the company wrote in an e-mail.

[Ahhhhhhh. So in Music Land it's the amount, not the act, that counts - Ed]

Last week, EMusic followed the producers of the Grammy Awards by filing a lawsuit against Napster, which is already battling a high-profile case with the Recording Industry Association of America, Mariano points out, adding:

"The Zappa lawsuit seeks damages for alleged infringement of 37 'musical compositions written, composed, arranged and/or performed by the late Frank Zappa,' who died in 1993 at age 52.

"Gail Zappa's attorney said that EMusic licensed the sound recordings from Rykodisc but failed to secure the rights to the underlying songs, owned by the Zappa Family Trust."