In his latest legal attack on Apple, rapper Eminem is alleging Apple’s iTunes is selling his music without first receiving permission from his publishers. The lawsuit raises the issue of who owns a song’s digital rights.
Digital Journal — It’s hard out there for a rapper. Eminem is suing Apple in a multi-million dollar lawsuit, alleging the company’s iTunes store is selling Eminem tracks without getting permission from the rapper’s music publishers.
According to the Detroit News, the computer giant violated copyrights by allowing unauthorized downloads of Eminem songs. Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated, the companies representing Eminem, are demanding that Apple stop offering the downloads.
Apple offers Eminem songs on iTunes, paying a portion of the revenue it collects to Universal Music Group, who distributes the music. This issue comes down to a central question: Should record labels be allowed to sell the digital rights of an artist’s music, or does that permission need to be granted from the music publishers who own the copyrights to the sheet music and lyrics?
Entertainment lawyer Owen Sloane explained to ZDNet how the music royalty structure is causing dissention:
All the publishers are rankled that they have to go after the record labels to collect their fees. Sometimes these fees may not be accounted for properly. The publishers would prefer to collect directly from the source instead of the labels.
This isn’t Eminem’s first court battle against Apple. In 2004, he sued Apple over misusing his song “Lose Yourself” in a TV ad. The case was settled out of court a year later.
Apple has not yet responded to Eminem’s latest lawsuit.
