"Damage Inc" Control: Metallica APOLOGIZES to Canadian "tribute" band after attorney letter

[Miles Archer]

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/metallica-canadian-cover-band-reconcile-over-cease-and-desist-letter-20160114

Metallica, Canadian Cover Band Reconcile Over Cease and Desist Letter
Band apologizes after "overzealous attorney" sent cover band Sandman 41-page letter

BY JASON NEWMAN January 14, 2016

Metallica cover band Sandman didn't expect to have a FedEx package waiting for them over the weekend when they arrived at FitzRay's, a London, Ontario club where the band was scheduled to play Saturday night. Inside, the Canadian group found an official, 41-page cease and desist letter from Metallica's lawyer for using "official, stylized logos … to identify or promote live musical performances through Facebook and YouTube." The cover band, formed in 1994, had been using their logo, an approximation of Metallica's redesigned logo introduced for 2003's St. Anger, for more than a decade. Yet this was the first time they had even heard from the band, much less received any sort of legal documents.

"The band have been using this logo for years with no problems at all," guitarist Joe Di Taranto tells Rolling Stone. "I only joined the band last summer and feel a little guilty that perhaps my (albeit humble) success with my main/original band WARMACHINE have brought a little extra attention to the band, leading to this little fiasco."

Now, Metallica has clarified the situation in a statement to Rolling Stone, denying any involvement in the letter and blaming an "overzealous attorney" for the misunderstanding.

"We hear that a Canadian Metallica tribute band is a little upset with us and with a little digging, figured out why," the band tells Rolling Stone. "It turns out that a certain letter was delivered to the band Sandman that neither we nor our management were aware of until it surfaced online. Lucky for us, the band was kind enough to post it for us to see, and it turns out that we have a very overzealous attorney who sent this letter without our knowledge."

[Scootaloo]

1. Metallica sure talks a lot of shit for not having made good music for 20 years

[exboyfil]

2. What are the economics of tribute bands?

The original bands receive royalties when they play their songs. Is it a significant source of income? Does it help keep the original band popular?

I enjoy going to see them. In many cases cover bands are better musicians than the older band musicians (age does that to you). Also the cost is much less (oftentimes at free festivals where I will buy a band t-shirt or CD and food from the vendors). The concerts are more relaxed (lawn chairs to watch for example for my favorite cover band).

[Fix The Stupid]

4. How can the original band recieve royalties for cover bands?

It makes no sense.

How could that even be managed?

Can't they just change one word in one lyric from each song and now it's 'original'?

[exboyfil]

5. I did some research and apparently

you have licensing companies like BMI that bundle royalties in a variety of different packages that can be purchased. They then try to calculate the usage of these royalties for particular songs and venues (CD vs. live, free vs. paid, small vs. large crowd). Any public performance should have a royalty license. You get lawsuits when they don't. The venue appears to be responsible.

After BMI and the other licensing agencies calculate usage, then they cut checks to the artists who hold the royalty. It appears complex and probably is not entirely accurate.

On changing the song slightly. I think you enter into "fair use". Anything can be litigated but using a single sentence or song passage to make a point is allowed. I know Weird Al negotiates with the original artists to allow him to parody their songs. Many actually feel honored by it.

[Denzil_DC]

6. Most places in the world, performing rights of others' material are subject to licensing,

which collects royalties via organizations like the US's ASCAP: http://www.ascap.com/about

This extends to local bars and venues playing recorded music.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. We Paid BMI Fees for Nearly 25 Years

And, it's not punitive. Since about 30% of our stuff was songs we wrote, then we figured we played around 24 to 28 cover tunes a night.

You figure the number of songs, pay a small fee per song, and use a decent estimate of the number of gigs you would play. So, we used to use around 90 per year.

It's a pretty small price for feeling like we were doing the right thing.

On Edit: Also, some of the clubs we played payed BMI or ASCAP, so we were covered on both ends.

[NightWatcher]

3. They're not sorry, they're sorry it got a lot of press and made them look bad.

[saturnsring]

7. McTalllica is to music what french fries are to food

[FSogol]

8. That analogy doesn't work, french fries are good....

[HughBeaumont]

11. Metallica: Picking Battles is Hard.

They've sucked since 1991's Mullet Prom Soundtrack.