Rock 'n' roll legends sue site
2006-12-19 09:51
New York - Some of rock 'n' roll's
biggest names have teamed up to sue the owner of a website
that specialises in streaming rare concert recordings.
Wolfgang's Vault offers thousands of recordings of rare
audio and video music performances collected over 30 years by
Bill Graham, a famous concert promoter who died in 1991.
On Monday, major rock names including Grateful Dead
Productions, Carlos Santana and members of Led Zeppelin and The
Doors, sued the current owner, claiming it was illegally
offering recordings to stimulate sales of other products.
Wolfgang's Vault representatives were not immediately
available for comment.
The site also sells
T-shirts, pictures and memorabilia such as vintage concert
posters and tickets.
The recordings were made at concert performances by a wide
array of artists from Bob Marley to Bob Dylan. The site's
collection has been described by some industry watchers as one
of the most important groupings of rock memorabilia and
recordings ever assembled in one business.
Exploiting their success
The suit was filed at the US District Court in the
Northern District of California against William Sagan, who
bought the assets of Graham for $5m from Clear Channel
Entertainment more than three years ago.
"Sagan simply doesn't have the legal rights to exploit and
profit from the extraordinary success of these musicians," Jeff
Reeves, who represents the artists, said in a statement.
Wolfgang's Vault derives from Graham's given name of
Wolfgang Grajonca. Over the course of his career as a promoter
he is credited within the music industry for helping create the
modern concert promotion business.
Live music performances, both in audio and video formats,
are a fast-growing area online for companies including Time
Warner Inc's AOL unit and Microsoft Corp's online unit MSN.
Such companies say advertisers are keen for original content
which works well in the online video format.