MNGOP takes down web video

Posted at 5:38 PM on August 4, 2006 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

The Minnesota Republican Party took down a web video (see, it's no longer there) that mocked the relationship between attorney general Mike Hatch and DFL Representative Matt Entenza (who dropped his bid for attorney general).

An official with the GOP confirms they took the video down after a call from the record company, Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG). UMPG owns the rights to the song "Why can't we be friends?" which played under the snapshots of Hatch, Entenza and news clippings.

An e-mail exchange with Fred Wilhelm, the attorney for the band "War" which now prefers "The Original Low Riders" (because of a copyright issue) said his clients noticed the web video and were concerned about proper compensation:

Their concern, which became my concern, was that if the use of the song in the composition wasn't licensed, they weren't going to get paid. I doubted that UMPG had decided to start granting these licenses, and it only took about five minutes to confirm my suspicions. The last thing I heard was late Monday afternoon, when I received an email from Gary Miller, UMPG VP for Motion Picture and Televison Music, advising me that the matter was being turned over to UMPG's business affairs department to issue a cease and desist letter.

Wilhelm also said the web video illustrates a growing problem for artists who aren't being properly compensated for Internet uses of their music.

Comments (1)

Why shouldn't they just pay the artist for his work?

Posted by Eva Young | August 12, 2006 11:14 PM

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