On Dec. 7th, the Tech/Culture blog BoingBoing.net reported that the estate of Chet Baker was suing the “Big Four” record labels (Sony/BMG, Warner, Universal, and EMI) as part of a class-action law suit for releasing his music in Canada without paying any compensation. The songs were released on compilation CDs and live recordings, areas that sometimes go “unnoticed” due to their semi-ambiguous nature. While it is understandable that record labels may not pay royalties due to songs being in the public domain or belonging to obscure and hard to find artists, it is difficult to understand why they would avoid paying more well-known artists like Baker when the system is already in place to do so.

The defendants (Canadian branches of the big four) have acknowledged that they owe somewhere near CAD $50 million to the plantiffs. By statutory law however, the plantiffs (led by the estate of Mr. Baker but including artists like Sarah McLachlan, Bruce Springsteen and Beyonce) are entitled to up to CAD $6 billion, or $20,000 per song. For years the labels have printed and sold CDs without obtaining the proper licenses.

According to Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa:

“The names of the songs on the CDs are placed on a ‘pending list,’ which signifies that approval and payment is pending. The pending list dates back to the late 1980s, when Canada changed its copyright law by replacing a compulsory licence with the need for specific authorization for each use. It is perhaps better characterized as a copyright infringement admission list, however, since for each use of the work, the record label openly admits that it has not obtained copyright permission and not paid any royalty or fee. Over the years, the size of the pending list has grown dramatically, now containing more than 300,000 songs.”

Geist also notes that, “After years of claiming Canadian consumers disrespect copyright, the irony of having the recording industry face a massive lawsuit will not be lost on anyone, least of all the artists still waiting to be paid.”

And the record industry wonders why its in trouble….

Read more at:  http://www.thestar.com/business/article/735096–geist-record-industry-faces-liability-over-infringement