The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Gene Simmons has finally gotten into the insurance business. Chaim Witz has been exploring new and exciting ways to slap the KISS logo on any and all products for the last three decades, and at this point, his marketing and merchandising efforts have long since jumped the shark. I could come up with something witty, but that would just be a waste of time. Honestly, I’m curious why it took him so long to finally get involved in this market.

Mr. Simmons’s new group, Cool Springs Life Equity Strategy, was launched last month to tap into a lucrative demographic: entertainers, sports stars and other people with a net worth of $20 million or more who need a life-insurance policy of $10 million or greater. The firm’s founders, who include David R. Carpenter, formerly of insurance powerhouse Transamerica, believe there is big opportunity to sell jumbo insurance policies to rich people.

Yes, undoubtedly there is.

Click to read more…

The future Mrs. Skullia just sent this to me. The description of the video reads:

Algonquin park… the music is coming from a headset close to us but the camera hasnt picked it up. for natural preservation of the vid we didnt edit it to put the song on it, but for ppl interested it was “Decade of Therion” from Behemoth.

Just dumb enough to be hilarious.

-AS

Last month, Nergal found himself in a lot of trouble with Polish authorities because he destroyed a Bible on stage in 2007 (video above).  Poland has a law that prohibits the offending of someone’s religious feelings, and he managed to offend several people.  Could a law like this be passed in the United States?

The quick answer is “no,” though there are, as always, some exceptions.  At the most basic level, the First Amendment keeps the government out of religion as well as the regulating-speech business.  There is a plethora of diverse beliefs about the ultimate nature of the universe, and the US government is not going to get in your way if you choose to believe in any one of them.  Essentially, you can believe any crazy thing you wish, but you may not be able to practice your religion if it involves breaking a law that is not related to your religious beliefs.

Click to read more…

Last week, Ozzy & Judas Priest were on trial for spreading suicide-inducing messages in their music.  How then were they able to escape liability for their actions? For simplicity, I’ll only refer to Ozzy’s trial. (For those of you interested in reading the full opinion, it can be found at McCollum v. CBS, Inc., 202 Cal. App. 3d 989. )

The court in Ozzy’s case rejected the McCollums’ claim on two different grounds.  First, the First Amendment provided an absolute bar to the claim.  Second, even if the McCollums could have gotten past the First Amendment bar, they could not have proven the foreseeability element of their negligence claim.

The First Amendment is a pretty amazing thing.  In case you forgot what it says, here it is:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or  prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Rather than trying to have the government control what could and could not be said, they washed their hands of the whole mess by granting free speech to all.  Until that time, England had only protected freedom of speech for Parliamentary debates, and France had recently enacted legislation similar to our First Amendment.  I don’t know all of the history here, so if you do, please edify the rest of us in the comments.

Click to read more…

On October 26, 1984, John McCollum killed himself after having listened to Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz, Diary of a Madman, and Speak of the Devil.  While playing the latter, McCollum put a gun to his temple and killed himself. Two years later, his parents filed suit in California against Ozzy and his label, CBS Records. His parents claimed that Ozzy’s music, in particular the lyrics from “Suicide Solution” on Blizzard of Ozz, caused their son to commit suicide.

Judas Priest was involved in a similar trial in 1990.  On December 23, 1985, James Vance and Raymond Belknap shot themselves after allegedly listening Judas Priest.  While Belknap died instantly, Vance survived for three years before finally succumbing to his injuries.  Their parents alleged that subliminal messages placed in “Better By You, Better Than Me” were responsible for their sons’ actions.

In both cases, families filed suit against the bands because their music had the effect of pushing their sons over the edge, resulting in the deaths of the three young men. The various causes of action brought in both cases were based on the notion that the music of both bands was negligently produced, and that the music encouraged the self-destructive behavior that resulted in the three suicides.

Click to read more…

Season 1, Episode 1 “The Curse of Dethklok”

In what will be a continuing feature of this column, I am going to watch episodes of Metalocalypse and analyze any of the issues that come up.  Some episodes have more issues than others, so I might not get through all of the issues in an episode in a given post.  Really, I just want to be able to say that watching Metalocalypse is productive work for me.

In the first episode, Dethklok requires that fans sign “pain waivers” to release the band from liability at the Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle Batsfjord MassacreFest.  Obviously thinking ahead of what can and will happen at their shows, it seems like a good plan for Dethklok, as the show results in fans being crushed, burned, dissolved, or otherwise maimed or killed.  But could a waiver really allow Dethklok to escape liability for the deaths of hundreds of fans?
Click to read more…

In the last few weeks, several of you have emailed the same basic question:

“How is Guns N’ Roses still around if Axl is the only one left?”

While I can’t tell you definitively, here’s how it might have happened.

Click to read more…

I had no idea that this was even an option.

-AS

Like nearly everyone else on this site, I have spent my share of time at shows, both in and out of the pit. How is it that people can come together in a cramped club, run into each other, and stage dive onto one another, but manage to not get sued for any of it? Why are pits and their associated conduct considered acceptable at shows, but not on the subway?

Click to read more…

After last week’s introduction, I’m going to use this column to go through the the three main requirements of copyright protection in a little more detail. For those of you looking ahead, the next few columns will have nothing to do with copyright at all.

Requirement number one is that the work must be an item that can be copyrightable. Though there are many different types of works, not everything can receive copyright protection. Copyright will only be available to original works of authorship. The US Code provides several examples of items that can be protected, such as

• Literary Works (books, articles, class notes, emails)

• Pictorial, Graphic & Sculptural works (Photographs, music videos, movies)

• Musical works & sound recordings (full albums, individual songs)

Also, while facts are not copyrightable, compilations of facts generally are, but only to the extent that the author has infused it with his creativity. Where his creativity ends, so, too, does the copyright.

While this list is broad, many items are not protected, such as procedures, processes, systems, ideas, words or short phrases, and US government works. Protection might be available under trademark or patent law for these, but not under copyright.

Requirement number two is that each item must be independently created. If two people author the same work and have arrived at that work independently, both will be afforded copyright protection for their work. Granted, this doesn’t happen that often.

The independent creation requirement leaves out several concepts that you might consider important to receiving copyright protection, such as:

Click to read more…

Hello. My name is Antonin Skullia, Esq., and I’m the newest contributor to MetalSucks. I am fully licensed by one of jurisdictions of the United States as an Attorney and Counsellor at Law. I’ve been listening to metal since Metallica’s Black Album came out when I was in middle school. During law school, I spent two years as a member of the street team for one of the metal labels. I spend most of my time practicing tax and probate law, but I have worked in copyright and entertainment law as well.

In my posts I am going to be talking about how the law interacts with the world of music. While this mainly means copyright law, that there are a host of other issues that both fans and bands face every day. It may also occur to you that bands occasionally find themselves in trouble with the law. How did they get there? I will be talking about the laws involved in bringing those to the courtroom.

Also , I love Metalocalypse, and occasionally, they touch upon legal issues. I’ll spend some time delving into how the law has dealt with similar situations and whether or not Dethklok can get away with what they did on the show.

Click to read more…