LEGAL LIABILITIES

Hi everybody my blog for this week is about legal liabilities cases in the music business. Legal liability is an obligation under law arising from civil actions or under contract. Even if a settlement is made out of the court legal liability can only be decided by courts. Some of the most common legal liabilities in the music business are using a sample from another song and use it in another song without the permission to use, shooting a person or a place for a music video without the consent of the person or place, and announcing an event that eventually does not occur. Legal liabilities are a real problem for any artist or public figure because they get expose to a public issues that most of the time ends with a lawsuit or a bad reputation.

Today I want to discuss three different legal liability cases in the music business that occurs every day. My first case is Don Omar lawsuit for using a yacht without permission for a music video. Don Omar is one of the hottest latin artist in the world and recently he was sue for using a yacht for his number one record “Danza Kuduro” music video. My second case is about the music producer Baauer and his Harlem Shake track. We all know how hard the Harlem Shake videos on Youtube has turn viral all over the world, but little we know about from whom Baauer took the sample voice for his Harlem Shake track. Baauer took some sample voices from Hector El Father. Hector El Father is one of the most famous latin urban artist. Hector El Father retire from the music world five years ago when he decide to become a preacher and leave his music career aside. Baauer without knowing that his Harlem Shake will become a number one hit all over the world do not have the permission to use Hector El Father voice. This is a problem because now Hector El Father can sue Baauer for using his voice or demand for all the revenues that the Harlem Shake can or has generate. My third and last case is about Daddy Yankee. Daddy Yankee is another latin urban artist sued for using others people songs as his. Daddy Yankee was sued for allegedly using another artist song and not give them credit nor paying royalties for using their songs.

All three cases have the same problem not having permission. One paper can change a person life forever. For Don Omar not having the permission to use the yacht became a problem for him because know he has to deal with the media and court about not having the permission even thou is not his responsibility for the permission to shoot the yacht. For Baauer using Hector El Father voice without permission will become a problem when Hector’s lawyers decide to sue him for using a sample voice without permission. For Daddy Yankee not having the permission to use another artist song had become a problem. Now he has to deal in court for using and enriching himself other people composition. When I saw and read all these cases about legal liabilities my first question was where was Don Omar, Baauer, and Daddy Yankee’s manager. The issues with the permissions are a responsibility of the manager. If I was any of these artists I will be mad with my manager for not taking care of his resposabilities.