In this week's Legal Beat, 2 Live Crew loses a battle, UMG and Warner get sued over their AI deals, 'Power Ballad' riffs on music lawsuits and much more.
DJ Mr. Mixx (David Hobbs), Fresh Kid Ice (Chris Wong Won), Brother Marquis (Mark Ross), Luke Skyywalker (Luther Campbell) of the rap group "2 Live Crew" pose for a portrait session on January 30, 1989.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
THE BIG STORY: Copyright termination, a crucial legal provision that allows songwriters and artists to take back their music decades after they sold it away, was meant to be inalienable. You cannot waive it, you cannot sell it: The whole point was for it to be available years later, when an artist would get a “second bite at the apple” after it was clear how much their music was really worth.
But termination is not automatic, as many artists have learned the hard way. You can’t take your music back if a judge says you recorded it as a work for hire (and the labels say almost every album was). You can’t get it back if you used a loan-out company, a common tax structure for musicians. You also can’t get them back if you gave them away in a divorce settlement.
