In 1976, Congress tried to remedy the exploitation of musicians who signed away their rights for a, well, song before they got famous, by adding Section 203 to the Copyright Act, which lets artists who sold their rights terminate them after 35 years. The law went into effect in 1978. Now, a number of artists, like Bob Dylan and Tom Petty have given termination notices to their publishers. So has Victor Willis, an original Village People singer, who wrote Y.M.C.A., Macho Man, and In The Navy. Scorpio Music and Can't Stop Productions have taken him to federal court, on the basis that the songs were created by several people and may have been an exempted work for hire. The suit is being watched closely. Stay tuned.
The original, 1978 music video of Y.M.C.A.:
No comments:
Post a Comment