Thursday, October 18, 2012
Universal And Fox Sued Over Simpson's Theme Park Ride... By A Musicians' Union
Techdirt: The Simpsons has had a long run (perhaps overly so) and, despite being Fox's cash cow for the last quarter century, has never been targeted with a lawsuit. It took the show being turned into a theme park ride to do it and even then, it took over four years from the ride's debut before something Simpson's-related became suit-worthy.
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Contracts are always so vague. Once AFM can actually pin point what they can sue Universal on this might be an OK claim. Recorded media, whether its film, television, commercials, or even songs, has a scope that it is used for when done through unions. Once it goes out of that scope a new pay or royalties are usually coughed up. The scope of Universal using the music is definitely new, and promotional, but probably just for affect. If AFM is doing it for the artists then thats better, but its just annoying for a union to sue so they can get more money. They really should have been more specific in the contract, hopefully they will learn from this in contract writing.
I have a little clicky pen that plays the Simpson theme? Does that count as a “new use”? I felt two different things when I read this. One, how ridiculous, this song is play all over the place in many many ways. Does the original orchestra need to get compensated EVERY time it plays? How much money is the ride making become of the song? Could they cut the song and make the same amount of money? Perhaps, perhaps not. The other thing I thought is. . . why shouldn't they get compensated. It is their work. This is the whole point of the new contract to begin with. On the other hand. They should have thought of this when they made the contract. On the other hand. TRADITION!
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