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Obama dancing on Ellen last fall to Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love.” Less than one minute is played out of a nearly four minute song. This is one of the longest clips played on Ellen
In a move that shows how heavy-handed and out of touch the music industry is, multiple record companies are suing Ellen Degeneres for thousands of copyright infringements and unpaid licensing fees involving the brief music clips she plays on her show. Ellen’s people say they didn’t “roll that way,” but they may have a better defense. The clips Ellen plays are quick and may fall under the terms of “Fair Use.”
Some of the world’s largest recording companies are suing “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” claiming producers violated their copyrights by playing more than 1,000 songs without permission.
Many of the songs were played during the “dance over” segment of the show, when DeGeneres dances from the stage to the interview area, often through the audience.
According to the suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Nashville, when representatives of the recording companies asked defendants why they hadn’t obtained licenses to use the songs, defendants said they didn’t “roll that way.”
“As sophisticated consumers of music, Defendants knew full well that, regardless of the way they rolled, under the Copyright Act, and under state law for the pre-1972 recordings, they needed a license to use the sound recordings lawfully,” the suit states.
Scott Rowe, spokesman for the show’s Telepictures Productions, wrote in an e-mailed statement that the company has been working with the record labels for months to resolve the issue and remains willing to resolve it on “amicable and reasonable terms.”
Rowe said the issue does not involve DeGeneres, who on Wednesday was named as the fourth judge on TV’s “American Idol,” and whom Rowe calls “a tremendous music enthusiast and advocate.”
The suit claims the daytime talk show has used copyrighted music without permission since its inception, including “recordings by virtually every major current artist of popular music.” It claims the show routinely used some of the most popular songs of the day, which the record labels don’t license for daytime television at any price.
Other songs cited in the lawsuit include Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”; The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” and Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.”
The suit calls the segment and the music played by the show’s own disc jockey “signature elements of the show.”
Plaintiffs include Arista Music, Atlantic Recording Corp., Capitol Records, Motown Record Company, Sony Music Entertainment, Virgin Records America and Warner Bros. Records.
The suit does not specify the dollar amount it seeks in damages.
[From AP via The Huffington Post]
As a commenter Jim on Gawker points out, one of the longest clips Ellen has ever played was on Obama’s appearance when he was campaigning for President, above, and it was less than one minute. Ellen’s show plays typically less than 30 seconds of a song and it can be argued that it falls under fair use. What’s more is that it certainly helps promote music and artists. Ellen features so many musicians from those record labels on her show. You would think that they would try to work out an agreement with the show instead of suing. On the other hand, this may be a last ditch effort after record companies tried to work out something with the show and got rebuffed.
What took the record companies so long to file this suit? Ellen has been on the air for six years.
Did you hear about how music companies are also also suing coffee houses and small music venues in Florida for licensing fees when live artists perform cover songs?
Written by Celebitchy
Posted in Ellen DeGeneres, Lawsuits, Music
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19 Responses to “Ellen show sued for copyright infringements for playing music clips”
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You know, Ellen can really strike a blow against this crap very easily. She simply cuts any ties with the music industry. No more promotional visits, no more interviews, no more guests. Her staff should go on a search for Indie artists and promote the people who appreciate what she, and hundreds of others like her, actually do for the music business.
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Ellen’s doing the music industry a favor by playing all different kinds of music clips on her show. I’m sure lots of people hear a song that she plays, look up the lyrics online or otherwise find out what song it is, and then buy it off itunes or something.
The music industry’s really hurtin’ for money, huh?
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Yeah…..this really annoys me.
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The music industry needs to stop worrying about minutia, and start worrying about the sad state of affairs music is in.
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God she is promoting their crap and they are suing her??? Petty idiots.
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The Music Industry is the New Wall Street rolled in with the Mafia, with their greed in suing everyone and anyone.
They are also trying to get a bill passed so the radio stations that are already paying fees to pay an additional fee, that will more than likely but smaller stations out of business.
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My question to the stupid music industry is: Without Radio stations, shows like Ellen and movies/commercials , how the hell do you get your product heard? I swear, if all media outlets would stand up to the music industry and it’s greed, they might not be so high and mighty.
Why should anyone pay to promote someone else getting rich. The music industry should be paying Ellen and radio stations and movies to play their crap. Which as I said in an ealier post, most music today sucks.
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Man..I hope I don’t get sued for playing songs on my stereo at home. I mean..sometimes the neighbors can hear it and I usually play the WHOLE song.
I’m scared.
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I agree totally with LouRob. Ellen’s show should do that. Then what will the music bigwigs do?
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I agree, what made them *just now* decide to take action? She started back in 2003. This seems really frivolous. If anything she is helping promote those artists.
LOL @ Zanna
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I don’t get it. Everybody is fine when there stuff is being promoted when they do interviews. I’ve brought songs because I heard it on her tv show. I think the artist need to back her, these big corps are just greedy.
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This is a perfect case of the pendulum swinging too far in the wrong direction. People finally got on board with the idea that it is wrong to illegally download and/or distribute music without purchasing it. Seems that isn’t enough for the MI.
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@ maddie, you hit that nail on the head. There was a case here a while back where gyms were going to have to pay a fee on top of an existing fee to play music in spinning classes and such. I’m beginning to wonder if one day someone is going to bust into my shower and beat the crap out of me for singing.
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It’s just like anything else. The public is no more than a herd of animals being farmed for profit.
When they need ANOTHER mansion or helicopter they make the lil moo-moos get into position for a good “milking”.
And the politicians they pay for, let them do it.
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Copyright law is for the protection of artists, not the exploitation and enrichment of music companies.
Let ‘em try and give ‘em enough rope. Ellen is smart enough to let them expose themselves as the greedy assholes that they are.
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Music is very expensive to make, y’all do realize that, right? I’m sure that you all have friends in independent bands that can make DECENT sounding recordings in their basements and bedrooms. However, it is still a huge investment to make a top shelf recording that can be re-transmitted and reproduced through laptop speakers and TV’s in elevators and still sound good. Consumers will justify any illicit acquisition and performance of music by saying it’s “promotion” or “exposure.” Everybody on this thread loves music, right? But, look or ask around you: how many people do you know that make their living in fiance? Medicine? Sales? Graphic Design? What about music? Do you pay for music? If you don’t, then companies that can afford it – like the Ellen Degneres show – need to pay for what you use. If you don’t pay for it, and they don’t pay for it, then you get mediocre recordings of mediocre songs.
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God, I love Ellen.
Seriously. That woman rocks, and I just love her.
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I love Ellen also, I really do, but I don’t think most of you are seeing the bigger picture. The record labels are just one part of the equation.
I make my living as a songwriter and I can only hope that a show like Ellen would use my song and pay for that right so that I can feed my family. The only way I make money is if people pay for using what I create. Believe me I’m not rich, I just want to work and be paid for my work, I’m sure just like all of you. It’s not the artists that suffer, artists don’t receive payment when one of their songs are used on air, only the songwriters, publishers and record labels.
I suppose it is free advertising but why should Ellen or anyone else get to decide what is the best way to use what I created and own? And for free while her ratings are directly improved by the usage of music in her dance segment?
The numbers don’t lie. Illegal copyright infringement is on the rise and album sales are down 30% recently. When album sales are down labels sign fewer artists. With fewer artists there is less work for sound techs, road musicians, even bus drivers. It seems like such a harmless thing to not pay for copyright usage but when you multiply it by hundreds of thousands it will eventually kill the music business as we know it.
It would seem relatively harmless to steal a hershey candy bar from a supermarket but if hundreds of thousands of people started stealing them it would drive hershey out of business. Would that be free advertising for Hershey? Would more people buy their candy in the future because they sampled it for free? Probably not.
At least think about it before you slam me.
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Klasse Aufbau der Webseite. Habt ihr das selbst gemacht oder ist das ein Template?!
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