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Musicians
irked by Universal’s “works-for-hire” classification
Musicians have weighed in on the Universal Music Group’s
decision to classify all their copyrighted songs as works-for-hire
— and they aren’t happy. “What this Court cannot
and should not do is to allow Plaintiffs to use as prima facie
evidence copyright registrations that contain materially erroneous
authorship claims,” the lawyers argue in the brief. “These
authorship claims by Plaintiffs on the copyright registration
forms are not innocent mistakes or minor variances. Plaintiffs
fully understood the significance of claiming sound recordings
as works-for-hire on the copyright registration forms. Whether
in good faith or bad faith, Plaintiffs claimed more rights
than they actually owned.”
As MP3.com continues to challenge a multimillion-dollar verdict
against it for wilfully infringing copyrights with the creation
of its my.mp3.com streaming service, the Recording Artists
Coalition is preparing to submit an amicus brief that disputes
Universal’s claims to those copyrights.
At issue is whether a recording artist is an employee of a
label. If the answer is yes, musicians lose all rights to
their copyrights. If the answer is no, then musicians retain
the rights to their work 35 years after it was created. It
might seem like an insignificant point, but for musicians,
their back catalog is their retirement fund. Long after they’ve
stopped rocking, they can still expect to garner some income
from album sales - unless the labels never relinquish ownership
of their music.
In the brief, the lawyers argue that since musicians don’t
receive benefits or salaries and are required to reimburse
the labels for marketing, art, and recording costs, they can’t
be considered employees of the company.
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