Superb article, covers so much of the ins and outs of rights that it should be required reading for anybody considering starting a music-oriented line of busine

Superb article, covers so much of the ins and outs of rights that it should be required reading for anybody considering starting a music-oriented line of business! IP law, with respect to music, is one of my favorite hobbies to stay current with as much as I can. Also, there are plenty of fascinating historical wrinkles and precedents that are entertaining in some sort. + Fogerty got sued for sounding like his trademark songwriting style (think AC/DC) - on the other hand, Tom Waits sued somebody else (and won) for trying to sound too much like him. + GoldiBlox tried to sue the Beastie Boys, claiming their derivative work for a song for a commercial (and not getting Sync Rights) would be protected under fair use - when the dust settled, the Beastie Boys took them to the cleaners and GoldiBlox was publicly shamed. + Recently a political ad used a re-worded version of "Times of Your Life" that mimics the Paul Anka original closely enough that the rights holder is suing them for unfair association and endorsement. These are just a few off the top of my head. Most of the good cases - by good I mean really interesting - get settled out of court. "Blurred Lines" was one I'm not going to get into because I approve of the outcome and there's so many garbage arguments against the result that I simply don't have the patience anymore to bother with it. Oh, and this really stood out to me: >It’s estimated that the song “Yesterday” alone has brought in $30 million in royalties over the years. Yeah, according to sources I've come across, it's the most covered song in the history of songs. That means anybody can go ahead and do a version - but they have to pay the Mechanical Rights. Gotta love it!