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Eminem's Publisher Sues Apple Over iTunes

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

July 31, 2007, 10:53 AM

Eminem and Apple are back in court again, this time over a dispute on whether or not the rapper's tracks are on iTunes with his permission.

While Universal distributes Eminem's albums, Eight Mile Style LLC and Martin Affiliated LLC own the publishing and copyrights to the songs. Both are claiming that they have never given Universal authorization to distribute his music online.

"Eight Mile and Martin have demanded that Apple cease and desist its reproduction and distribution and Apple has refused," the complaint reads according to The Detroit News.

This is not the first time that the two sides have ended up in court. Eminem last faced off with Apple in 2004 over the use of the song "Lose Yourself" in an Apple iPod ad. He had reportedly declined licensing it to the company, but Apple was said to have gone ahead without the rapper's blessing.

Experts say the suit has some legal basis: there is growing sentiment in the industry that music publishers, who actually own the copyrights to music and not the labels, should be the final say on whether an artist's work is permitted to be distributed online.

Entertainment lawyer Owen Slone told the Detroit News to expect more of these types of suits in the future as it becomes a bigger issue. He also said another factor playing into the dispute is the division of royalties between the label, publisher, and artist.

Niether Apple, Eight Mile Style or Martin Affiliated were commenting on the lawsuit.

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By horsecharles

posted Aug 1, 2007 - 8:35 PM

Eminem is right here... although that stance makes no sense Pr-wise.
It doesn't even make sense professionally IF say, he wants full control: let him make, market & sell his own product-- he's got the resources to do that... why involve a record label at all?

Score: 0

By imafurby

posted Aug 1, 2007 - 7:58 AM

Does he not get paid for these downloads? Otherwise what's the freakin' problem?

Score: 0

By drviper76

posted Aug 1, 2007 - 6:15 AM

Eminem got to remember he works for universal not for himself and plus michael jackson owns some of eminem work

Score: 0

By WeezulDK

posted Jul 31, 2007 - 8:36 PM

Isn't he the new Vanilla Ice?

Score: 0

By Stormprobe

posted Aug 1, 2007 - 9:08 AM

Vanilla Ice is a one hit wonder, Eminem is not.

Score: 0

By Adrian79

posted Aug 1, 2007 - 1:27 AM

u must not kno much about hip hop, eminem actually has lyrical dominance in the rap game.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Aug 1, 2007 - 8:32 PM

Perhaps you should get some gramattical dominance in the non ghetto spelling game.

Score: 0

By Second Shadow

posted Aug 3, 2007 - 11:01 AM

While I do agree with you on his spelling, let me point out that the correct way of writing "gramattical" is "grammatical". Moreover, Adrain79's failings lie rather in the orthography field than in the grammatical one ...

Just my two (nitpicking as usual) cents ... :)

Score: 0

By imafurby

posted Aug 1, 2007 - 7:59 AM

o i c

Score: 0

By TomA102210

posted Jul 31, 2007 - 3:21 PM

In another decade or less, M&M will not even be a comma in the entertainment industry, so why is he bothering. That's a rhetorical question, by the way.

Score: 0

By tankist

posted Jul 31, 2007 - 3:45 PM

thats exactly why - he needs to squize all the money he can squize before he is forgotten. god forbid they remove the music before he has time to sue, he would be out of his drug monies.

Score: 0

By shy_one

posted Jul 31, 2007 - 3:10 PM

Eight Mile Style LLC and Martin Affiliated LLC own the publishing and copyrights to the songs.

So lets see if i have this right.

Copyright holder: Remove my suff you do not have permission.

Apple: Sucks to be you it's making us money.

Apple has already lost unless Universal has something in the distribution contract that allows them to over ride the rights holder.

Score: 0

By Paul Skinner

edited Jul 31, 2007 - 11:23 AM

Good on him. It's about time someone asserted their rights over the music label.

Though I guess he should really be suing Universal, but I suppose if Apple have refused to remove his tracks he has a right to.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jul 31, 2007 - 11:43 AM

Does he want the tracks to sell, or not? If the artist wants to sell the tracks, fine. It should be up to the consumers where and whom they buy it from.

So long as the artist/label/whomever is getting their cut it shouldn't be an issue (unless they're concerned about artificially keeping prices higher).

Score: 0

By Paul Skinner

posted Jul 31, 2007 - 11:56 AM

"Does he want the tracks to sell, or not?"

Possibly not. He's pretty rich already, why does he care anymore?

"Both are claiming that they have never given Universal authorization to distribute his music online."

Dare it be on 'I can do what I want with my music and you have no right to just take it off me and post it everywhere' grounds, or isn't that possible in this day and age?

He wants to do it his way, and at the moment (whether that's good or bad) it is his right to.

Maybe he just likes to make the decisions and not have his record company make them for him.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jul 31, 2007 - 12:08 PM

Dare it be on 'I can do what I want with my music and you have no right to just take it off me and post it everywhere' grounds, or isn't that possible in this day and age?

Welcome to the digital world. They need to accept a more logical approach to distribution or these kinds of issues will continue to cost the taxpayer endless amounts of money.

Maybe he just likes to make the decisions and not have his record company make them for him.

Then perhaps he should he should not be selling music, or have signed a contract. IMO, for good or bad, the artists right to decide where, for what cost, and with what restrictions their music is sold should vanish the moment they make it publicly available.

Don't get me wrong, I do believe they should still get paid for it, but I do not believe they should be able to "fix" the market with the artificial limits they place on resale.

Score: 0

By dhjdhj

edited Jul 31, 2007 - 11:21 AM

Frankly, I'd like to sue Apple for having Eminem's songs on iTunes too....take his stuff off and LEAVE IT OFF!

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jul 31, 2007 - 11:30 AM

While your opinion of his music may be negative, there are *many* out there who would disagree with you.

It's not my preferred style of music either, but to each their own. Anyone should be allowed to sell it so long as they are paying the licensing fees. RIAA (or labels, or even artists) should not be able to pick and choose the distributors. Such things almost always lead to price fixing, use restrictions and grossly pervert supply vs. demand.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Jul 31, 2007 - 11:17 AM

Both are claiming that they have never given Universal authorization to distribute his music online.

Shouldn't they be in court with Universal then, and not Apple?

there is growing sentiment in the industry that music publishers, who actually own the copyrights to music and not the labels, should be the final say on whether an artists work is permitted to be distributed online.

There is growing sentiment also to push for a community copyright so that when an artist releases a song, it can be sold on any medium, in any store so that these stupid lawsuits can be stopped and so that the retailers and consumers can choose the business model that works the best instead of having some SIG try and force an antiquated model on a modern platform.

The old copyright laws are broken. We need to replace them with something that takes the power out of the hands of the SIG's and back into the hands of the consumer and reseller. This is how markets are supposed to work.

Score: 0

By Babylon2x

posted Jul 31, 2007 - 12:27 PM

+1

I read the article and thought it was nuts. It shows just how badly the copyright laws need reformed.

Score: 0

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