Stolen Music Suggestions

[beatmad]

My mother Judy Chiara was involved in a recording duo called Avrigus a few years ago and the other half of the duo, Simon Gruer, has been riding off it's popularity for the best part of the last 8 years. He has always presented the music as if he wrote half of it although I know for a fact that Judy wrote most of the material as I used to hear her writing it on the piano. Not discrediting his skills but Simon basically produced and recorded the music, contributing musical ideas that I would consider as incidental to the main songs. However he insisted that the credits on the album "The Secret Kingdom" said "written by Avrigus" creating a degree of ambiguity in regards to the songwriting. She has let it lie for all these years because the whole experience was pretty disappointing, being screwed around by a record company and various disagreements with Simon which led to the split of the duo. He has kept the concept going for years with the popularity of the songs off the album and has built up a fair following on myspace. Outrageously, all these years later he has used something she wrote as the intro of one of his new songs, even acknowledging that she had written it into his synthesiser several years ago. He never contacted her or asked her if he could use it. He obviously just decided it was a nice melodic idea which we have all thought for years but Judy hasn't got around to using it yet in a song. Here's a quote from Simon's myspace blog:

"It has been over 8 years since Avrigus has released new music so it is with great pleasure that I present the track A Banquet of Souls. This track originally existed as just a short celesta melody created by Judy on my synthesizer. I have taken this beautiful piece of music and turned it into an epic of loss and redemption (I will post the lyrics and the meaning of this song soon)."

I do have a partial recording of it that she did a couple of years ago on my computer and was wondering if anyone had any advice as to the best approach to take to stop him from using it. Judy has already put a comment on his myspace page which he promptly removed. I figure that a bit of internet discussion will at least get the ball rolling and maybe get some of his fans to ask some questions. Here's the link to the http://www.myspace.com/avrigus page and the song with the intro is called "A Banquet of Souls". I'd be grateful for any suggestions.

[musikwerks]

Get a lawyer. It may only require a simple 'cease and desist' notice.

I have dealt with Slaters lawyers in Balmain in the past. They specialise in intellectual property. Annie Slater is a gun lawyer and also a film maker so she shares the creative side of things.

[rick]

I believe in communication not litigation, but if communications fail then go see a lawyer for some advice
Then when you understand where you stand legally you can choose wether to go to town on the internet like I did on the stolen website thing last year , or youmight find out that you could be charged with liable(apparently spelt lible) if you use the wrong words in the wrong place
The internet can be helpful but make sure you have your facts deadly straight

[TimS]

you would be LIABLE for the LIBEL
;-)

[tunetown]

If communication fails I suggest a specialist music lawyer, i.e Jules Munroe from Simpsons or Brett Oaten, would have more experience in this field.

Good luck

[tunetown]

Get a lawyer. It may only require a simple 'cease and desist' notice.

I have dealt with Slaters lawyers in Balmain in the past. They specialise in intellectual property. Annie Slater is a gun lawyer and also a film maker so she shares the creative side of things.

Sorry Kristian, I should have read your post more thoroughly. I agree with your thoughts.

[beatmad]

Thanks for all your suggestions. We'll try and resolve things in that order, communication first.

[Kurt]

Dunno about the politics of it, I hope they get it sorted. I still have and enjoy my "The Final Wish" There were some great Aussie doom bands in the 90's :)

[heathen]

If he's making money from it call him up and say howdy partner.

[beatmad]

Dunno about the politics of it, I hope they get it sorted. I still have and enjoy my "The Final Wish" There were some great Aussie doom bands in the 90's :)

Cool! I played a small part in the structure of that song :) Judy still has a few of those cd's.

If he's making money from it call him up and say howdy partner.

Hmmm... I don't know if he is but there are people still trying to sell them here and there.