“Eminem’s music publisher filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Apple Computer Inc. [sic] on Monday, alleging the computer giant violated copyrights by allowing unauthorized downloads of the Detroit rapper’s songs onto iPods,” Paul Egan reports for The Detroit News.
“A ‘burning issue’ in the music industry today is whether the rights record labels hold to sell a recording artist’s CDs include the rights to authorize music downloads, or whether further permission is needed from the music publishers who hold the copyrights to the lyrics and sheet music.,” Egan reports.
Egan reports, “Typically, Apple collects 99 cents each time an iPod owner downloads a song, with Apple paying 70 cents of that amount to the recording label, a top California entertainment lawyer, Owen Sloane of Berger Kahn, said. The recording label, in turn, typically pays 9.1 cents to the music publisher, he said.”
Egan reports, “In their complaint filed Monday, Eminem’s music publisher and copyright manager, Eight Mile Style LLC and Martin Affiliated LLC, allege that although Apple pays a portion of the revenues it collects from Eminem downloads to recording giant Universal Music Group, Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated have never authorized Universal to allow the downloads. ‘Eight Mile and Martin have demanded that Apple cease and desist its reproduction and distribution and Apple has refused,’ the complaint alleges.”
Full article here.
Uh, shouldn’t Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated really be suing Universal Music Group, not Apple?