Free Republic

Most music fans today are aware there’s a long-running argument about whether the writers of the songs we love are fairly compensated for the profits made out of them. The internet brought the argument into the light, but it wasn’t really new. Since the era of recorded music began – and actually, long before that, when people bought sheet music rather than albums – the disagreement has raged on. It’s often assumed that those who reach certain heady heights will be more immune from being ripped off, if only because they can command bigger percentages and hire better lawyers. But...

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci made out like a bandit during the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly doubling his net worth when millions of Americans were struggling to put food on the table. According to watchdog group OpenTheBooks, Fauci and his wife saw a $5 million net worth growth, expanding from $7.5 million in 2019 to $12.6 million by the end of 2021. While Dr. Fauci has been a government bureaucrat for more than 55 years, his household net worth skyrocketed during the pandemic… Fauci’s soaring net worth was based on career-end salary spiking, lucrative...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., accused government health officials of taking a wrong approach in evaluating COVID-19 vaccines by failing to take into account people's previous infections. The Kentucky Republican then implied that there could be a reason for this. Stating that government vaccine committee members have not disclosed what, if any, royalties they have received from companies that make the vaccines, Paul said that if the GOP takes control of the Senate in November's midterm elections they will investigate the matter. "We've been asking you and you refused to answer whether anybody on the vaccine committees gets royalties from the...

@cspan Complete exchange between Sen. @RandPaul and Dr. Anthony Fauci at Monkeypox hearing. Sen. Paul plays @cspanwj clip of Dr. Fauci. Fauci: "That film that you showed was really taken out of context...Reuters fact-checked, looked at that..." Paul: "Actually, words don't lie." Clip...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., ripped NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci after a federal judge ordered the release of his emails sent to social media platforms regarding alleged misinformation and censorship. Paul claimed Fauci's "modus operandi" is to "cover up" his own activities while declaring his recommendations and edicts the only true path in terms of infectious diseases like the coronavirus. "I think that all of America should be appalled that America's doctor, the leading expert on COVID in public health, doesn't want to divulge information, doesn't want to divulge his communications with Big Tech," he said. Paul recounted Fauci's last...

Music lost one of its most promising talents when the Notorious B.I.G died at the age of 24 as the result of a Los Angeles drive-by shooting in 1997. His friends grieved especially. Sean Combs, who's been known as Puff Daddy and Diddy, had been close with B.I.G. since the very beginning: B.I.G. signed to Combs' label Bad Boy Records when it first launched in 1993. Combs also produced and added vocals to several of the tracks on B.I.G.'s debut album, 1994's Ready to Die. “You get guilt when you lose a friend,” Combs told People magazine in 2017. “It...

Vice President Harris hauled in nearly half a million dollars in book royalties during her first year in office, ethics disclosure forms show. Harris reported $325,000 in royalty earnings from her 2019 book “The Truths We Hold,” and another $130,000 for her children’s book “Superheroes Are Everywhere,” Bloomberg reported Friday. The cash far outstripped President Biden’s, who reported between $15,001 and $50,000 in royalties for “Promise Me, Dad,” — a heartfelt 2018 memoir about his late son Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015.

Ray Parker Jr. is best known for writing, producing and performing the 1984 Grammy-winning No. 1 hit “Ghostbusters,” but by the time he turned “Who you gonna call?” and “I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghost” into national catchphrases, he had already logged more than a decade in the business. He was still a teenager when Stevie Wonder invited him to join his band, and before breaking out as a solo star in the ‘80s, he logged credits as a songwriter (Rufus featuring Chaka Khan’s 1974 hit “You Got the Love”) and as a performer on a string of hits for...

The recent use of the term "basket of deplorables" by China's state-run Global Times has spurred former unsuccessful presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to consider suing for "theft of intellectual property. I coined that phrase to describe the lowlifes who supported my opponent in the 2016 election. It is outrageous that it would be re-used without paying me royalties." Observers have expressed skepticism that any prospective lawsuit could be successful. CNN's Chris Cuomo cited China's "blatant disregard for intellectual property rights as one indicator of the improbable odds for getting a reasonable response on Sec. Clinton's complaint. I also can't help...

The European Union's new Copyright Directive stands to dramatically change the way we consume news and other online content. Although originally intended to ensure creators and news organizations are fairly compensated for their work, the directive will more likely make quality news harder to find, throw financial and technical roadblocks in the way of smaller online publishers and creators, stifle free speech and negatively impact internet culture. Article 11 requires online news aggregators like Google, Facebook or Twitter to pay licensing fees to news organizations when showing snippets of their coverage, and forces news organizations to charge these fees. ....

SNIP The singer, who joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975, said she and fellow bandmate, Christine McVie, did not experience much sexual harassment over the course of their meteoric careers. "I think I've been very lucky," she said. "And maybe it's because when I joined Fleetwood Mac, Christine and I made a pact. We said we will never ever be treated like a second class citizen amongst our peers as we get more famous and more famous -- and if we're in a room with famous rock n' roll stars that are men and they treat us that way, we will...

In another move to free up domestic energy supplies, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday aimed at lifting the Obama administration’s offshore drilling restrictions.For decades, bad policies have blocked access to America’s abundance of domestic resources, yet America has still managed to be a global energy leader. Trump’s executive order, “Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy,” could unleash further success in the energy sector.The economic potential sitting just off America’s coasts is enormous. The Outer Continental Shelf is awash with natural resources, containing an estimated 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.Realizing...

Fox News Channel parent News Corporation may be wrapped up in the sexual harassment accusations surrounding host Bill O’Reilly, but the company is facing another long-running scandal involving what appear to be exuberant payments to a Democrat — payments that occurred even as News Corp. was lobbying the New York State executive branch, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo oversees.

The Interior Department is changing the way it values coal mined from public lands in the West to make sure mining companies are not shortchanging taxpayers on sales to Asia and other markets. […] Under rules in place since the 1980s, companies can sell the fuel to affiliates and pay royalties to the government on that price, then turn around and sell the coal at higher prices, often overseas. …

A Supreme Court order issued today closes the book on (or perhaps merely ends this chapter of) more than a decade of legal warfare between Google and the Authors Guild over the legality of the former’s scanning without permission of millions of copyrighted books. And the final word is: it’s fair use. The order is just an item in a long list of other orders that appeared today, and adds nothing to the argument except the tacit approval of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals 2015 decision — itself approving an even earlier decision, that of the U.S. District Court...

"There definitely seems to be a coalescing of opinions to opt out," one indie label executive tells Rolling Stone Days after Apple executives announced their splashy new music-streaming service last week before a roaring crowd of developers in San Francisco, they presented 250-page licensing contracts to skeptical independent record labels. Indie sources say the tech giant does not intend to pay them royalties for Apple Music's free, heavily marketed, three-month trial period — and many are refusing to sign. "I hesitate to say 'everyone,' but a lot of independent labels are of the same mind — that it's kind of...

Ninety years ago today, the song millions of people sing around a candlelit cake was published in a songbook. Although by 1924 the recognisable melody had been sung in American primary schools for nearly three decades, the publication was to trigger almost a century of legal wranglings which would result in Happy Birthday To You being one of the most lucrative songs of all time. Even though nobody knows who actually wrote Happy Birthday's lyrics, Warner Music contentiously owns the copyright to the song in its entirety. The media giant has therefore been earning millions from people celebrating their birthdays...

The container carriers and port operators, represented by the U.S. Marine Alliance, want to cap the royalties at 2011 levels, saying they've morphed into a huge expense, totally unrelated to their original purpose, which hurts the industry's competitiveness as it tries to keep up with new technology. The alliance says the royalty payments now amount to a bonus averaging $15,500 annually for East Coast workers who already earn more than $50 per hour.

The '80s have come back to bite Rush Limbaugh in the ass ... Rush (the band) has followed Peter Gabriel's lead and have demanded Limbaugh stop using their music on his radio show ASAP. Rush (the band) was FURIOUS when they discovered Rush (radio guy) was playing their song "The Spirit of Radio" as he ranted about wanting to see sex tapes of Sandra Fluke. The band got even more upset when they learned it wasn't the first time Rush (radio) has used their music on his show. The band has since fired off a cease and desist letter to...

As advertisers, affiliates and the general public continue to raise cain over Rush Limbaugh’s inflammatory comments about Sandra Fluke, another party has added his voice to the protest. A rep for singer/songwriter Peter Gabriel posted a message on his Facebook page insisting that the Brit's music no longer be used on Limbaugh’s radio show. Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” was utilized in the background of Limbaugh’s now-infamous rant, in which he called the Georgetown student a “slut” and a “prostitute.” The Facebook message reads: “Peter was appalled to learn that his music was linked to Rush Limbaugh’s extraordinary attack on Sandra Fluke. It...