FABBA upsets ABBA
p2pnet view Music:- Basically, a tribute band is a band which tries to look and sound like another (famous) band so it can score on the other (famous) band’s popularity.
It’s called a ‘tribute’ band because the tag kind of implies the tribute band is copying the other (famous) band out of respect rather than for monetary gain.
Mostly, tribute bands and artists do their thing(s) without upsetting anyone and in fact, they’ve become an accepted and popular form of entertainment in their own right(s) and you rarely hear complaints from the tributed.
But over in Australia where the country’s “legion of ABBA tribute bands have been hit with a global campaign by the Swedish supergroup’s record label to change their names”, says the Daily Telegraph, going on:
“FABBA and Abbalanche confirmed yesterday they faced their own legal Waterloo after receiving an email from ABBA’s label representatives demanding they cease using any derivation of the famed pop band’s moniker.
“Polar Music International, a division of Universal Music, have alerted groups who strut the world’s stages singing such classics as Dancing Queen, Fernando and Ring, Ring, Ring that they are ‘actively seeking to create clarity in the names of all ABBA tribute bands around the world’.”
Seeking to create clarity, eh? 
“FABBA’s Frida, Anthea Johnson, said the band had operated for 15 years and registered their name as a trademark a decade ago”, says the story, continuing >>>
Johnson, who said their show was more cabaret, said they would stop using the reversed B but, as she had made it up, they were not prepared to change the name.
“For a long time we were an Australian-based act but in the past year we have taken off strongly overseas, doing American cruise liner tours and Asian concerts and I think that’s how we got on their radar,” she said.
The band was mobbed by fans holding FABBA signs when they played Vietnam recently.
A legal letter “claims the label had complaints from fans who were misled about the connection between the ‘real ABBA’ and tribute bands who use the title.”
Misleading fans? Say it ain’t SO !!!
“A spokesman for Abba’s Back, who started playing the tribute circuit three years ago, said they were seeking legal advice”, says Daily Telegraph.
Could this be the start of a new Big 4-inspired cottage industry where the labels, under various guises, sue look-and-sound-alike bands and performers, claiming they’re only do it to “create clarity”?
Stay tuned.
(Cheers, Filip)
Daily Telegraph – Abbalanche of litigation, November 11, 2010
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
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