Most of us are used to seeing or hearing about major cases in the music world, like the frequent law run-ins of Chris Brown or imprisonment of rappers such as T.I. and Lil Wayne, but there are other legalities within the music industry that cause common legal issues—publishing, royalties, and money. Within just the week of September 28th through October 4th of this year, three cases dealing with publishing and money appropriation were filed. The common thread between these cases is their aged issues. The cases, although filed this year, stem from issues three to five decades old.
The first case is against Pandora filed in California in the beginning of October. This particular case is very similar to an pending case filed against Pandora in New York just two months prior. The class action complaint against Pandora was filed by founding members of Rock group The Turtles, Flo and Eddie. Flo and Eddie were a well-known duo in the 1970’s who now want increased pay from streaming stations such as Pandora for music recorded prior to 1972. The basis of this case, and a similar case recently won against SiriusXM, surrounds copyright laws derived from the Copyright Act.
The same week the SiriusXM case was filed, a case about royalties was filed against London’s major music publishing company, EMI Music Publishing. Composer of The Monkee’s hit song “Daydream Believer”, John Stewart’s widow, filed a lawsuit against EMI Music Publishing for missing royalty payments. The company is alleged to owe a minimum of $450,000 to John Stewart based on an agreement made back in 1967 with Screen Gems-Columbia Music for half of the publisher’s overseas profits. The funds are claimed to be owed due to an accounting error.
Unfortunately, accounting errors seem to be common place in the music industry, as was said to be the case against former Universal Music Group executive Duncan Schwier. Today, you can’t search the name Duncan Schwier without getting pages of results related to his recent arrest for stealing the equivalent of one million U.S. dollars from Universal over a 10 year period. Schwier was given a three year sentence after pleading guilty to stealing from the major music company. He blames his actions on a medical condition that caused him to act out erratic behaviors. Unlike most thieves, however, Schwier did not benefit from the moneys he stole; instead, he claims to have given the funds to charity and friends. As there was no evident changes in Schwier’s lifestyle to suggest he had acquired more income, Schwier may very well be telling the truth and, thus, be deemed the Robin Hood of the music industry.
