Singer Sophie B Hawkins found her new album available on eBay before its April 20 release date. She went to small claims court:
- The Grammy-nominated artist won $346 from the eBay seller for offering advance copies of her new CD on the online auction service.
The album, called Wilderness, is not due in record stores until next week.
Hawkins, who had hits in the 1990s, said: "He was making easy money off something that's my blood and guts.
....Hawkins, who rose to fame in 1992 with her song Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover, said money was not the motivation for taking the matter to court in Santa Monica, California.
Wilderness is Hawkins' first album released by her own Trumpet Swan Records label and she said she felt compelled to protect her intellectual property.
She added the eBay seller was purely in it for the money and taking advantage of her fans.
...Hawkins said she planned to return the money to fans who bought the CDs on eBay, then buy them authorised copies after it is released on 20 April.
eBay shut down the online auction of Wilderness after Hawkins alerted the company the CDs were not intended for sale.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Roberta Kyman ruled in Hawkins' favour after the eBay seller failed to show up in court, a court clerk said. [BBC]
Article comments
1 - Craig Lyndall
Well, what is your take on it Eric? You receive advanced copies of things and I know you keep at least most of it if not all of it, but do you feel it would be wrong for you to sell a promo copy of something you received?
2 - Tom Johnson
I wonder if this was a promo that was stamped with the warning that it's not for sale and can be recalled by the record company at any time, or one of the more commonplace cut-through-the-spine or holepunched-UPC "promos"? I would guess the legality of his sale would depend on the answer to that.
3 - Mark Saleski
i get lots of promo material, both stamped as tom says and also sorta-cutout.
i've never sold any of it off (of course, i don't sell anything off!)
4 - Eric Olsen
I think the issue here is probably the price: $300 for an advance CD makes you sit up and take notice. I don't think there would have been much of an issue if the price had been similar to retail. I don't know what the exact state of promotional copy resale law is, but I do know no one much wants to press the issue because resale of promo copies is considered a tacit part of a lot of people's - including label employees - pay.
5 - Jim Carruthers
I'd like to see Sophie B. Hawkins' claims, because I don't think they're very small.
Oh, wait, I had an Al Bundy moment.
Shouldn't she be going after her record company for copyright infringement? After all, allowing copies of an unreleased recording to circulate is clearly infringement. Fiduciary responsibility and all that (yes, I'm making with the funny - record companies and responsible - hah!)
6 - Eric Olsen
She IS her record company.
7 - Jim Carruthers
Labels are only a legal fiction. Who is distributing her shiny plastic discs? Those are the people responsible for making her album available. Those are the people who are liable for violation of her copyright.
If she did the whole 'Damn (I Wish I Was Your)' distribution from her kitchen table, then it's her fault, but otherwise, I'm looking at you whoever the distributor is. And Amazon doesn't indicate who that is.
8 - tracy_s
I have been following this story very closely. The media didnt report all the facts....big surprise. The two cd's in question were burned copies.
Sophie was initially willing to let the sale of the promo drop, but the guy burned a bunch of copies and sold them to her fans.
9 -
The CD sold was a promotional copy distributed to music industry people as an advance of the CD release. It's common practice. They go to radio stations, PR contacts, reviewers/publications, etc. They are very clearly stamped (all that I have seen), NOT FOR RESALE.
Not only did he offer the original promotional copy for $300 or so. But he also copies of it and sold those for $12.00 each. This is unquestionably copyright infringement.