Chuck Berry karaoke cases
p2p news / p2pnet: Not-so-golden oldie Chuck Berry, now 79, is suing three US karaoke music distributors for selling sound-track only versions of his songs.
He’s looking for “several hundred thousand dollars” each for Johnny B Goode, My Ding-A-Ling and others, says the BBC.
“Unlike many recording stars of his era, Berry owns all the publishing rights to his songs, his lawyers said.”
His lawsuit names UAV Corp of Fort Mill, South Carolina, Madacy Entertainment of Montreal and Top Tunes Inc of Hilliard, Ohio, says Billboard, adding, “Representatives from the three companies could not immediately be reached for comment.”
(Thanks, Kelly)
See:-
BBC – Chuck Berry sues US karaoke firms, November 11, 2005
Billboard – Chuck Berry sues karaoke distributors, November 11, 2005
November 12th, 2005 at 12:56 am
You can’t copyright a guitar lick, but if Chuck Berry could have, and he got paid 1/1000th of a cent for everytime one of his got played publicly he would be filthy rich. The guy was a true innovator and smart. He kept the rights to his songs when most of his peers were getting ripped off selling their future livelihoods to unscrupulous publishers. If anybody deserves to make a few bucks off their music career it’s people like Chuck (and unfortunatly many of those artists who sold their catalogs and will never see another dime from the works they created). I’m sure Chuck’s lawyer is more concerned with the ongoing value of Mr. Berry’s estate than Mr. Berry himself, but hey, He’s still alive and it sounds like the karaoke companys have made more than enough loot to pay out a few hundred thou. Go Johnny Go.
Karaoke is lame anyway…
November 12th, 2005 at 4:58 am
He’s a bit more than “still alive”, he was on tour last year (or early this year, I lost track).
But you’re dead right about everything else.
November 12th, 2005 at 11:10 am
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4430608.stm
here you go jon cant be bothered 2 email u
November 12th, 2005 at 4:36 pm
Is it the onset of senility?
If he thinks his music is worth just as much without his singing, in the form of karaoke, then that means he thinks his singing is worthless.
November 13th, 2005 at 12:56 am
that is really stupid