In the early days of the deadmau5 saga some of his music was signed to Play Records, the label run by Meleny “Melleefresh” Brown.
The music industry is a tricky business. Although deadmau5, aka Joel Zimmerman, was signed to Play Records, once they released his breakout track ‘Faxing Berlin’ and he reached commercial success, he left Play Records for Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. A lawsuit followed and in 2007 Zimmerman and Brown reached an agreement to give Play Records the rights to all his early work, including his first hit ‘Faxing Berlin’.
Specifically, it’s alleged that the agreement required Deadmau5’s “prior written consent” for any “new” remix entailing the change of melody and/or lyrics. Further, the lawsuit states “the Settlement Agreement expressly provided that Zimmerman did not waive his moral rights with respect to any so-called future remixes — if any were to be made — because by definition any future remix had not been created yet. Thus, Zimmerman would have no way of knowing in advance whether they were objectionable or whether he would want his name disassociated with them; i.e. in order to protect his right of paternity to remain anonymous and not be associated with them.”
Now Zimmerman has issued a new lawsuit claiming that Play Records has violated his moral rights by releasing music that is not to his standards. He claims that Play Records is “allegedly releas[ing] sound recordings of remixes of Deadmau5’s early work without his approval and ‘not of good technical and commercial quality.’ The defendant is also said to be preparing releases of other remixes and mashups.”
Zimmerman is asking for $10 million per “each cause of action” due to this violation. You can read the full claim here.
[via: Hollywood Reporter]