Customer Reviews

They Fought the Law : Rock Music Goes to Court

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A better book that deals with rock legal/economic matters is ROCKONOMICS. A lot, if not most, of the Beatles stuff, for instance, that are in this book are in that book, but better written. Nonetheless, this book had stuff I hadn't known about before, and it confirms what Pete Townshend said in "Rolling Stone" when it was pointed out to him that he had been friendly with a lot of English aristocrats, "Aristocrats are supposed to be real sh**s. But I don't think I met even one who was a real sh**. Whereas, in the music business, I could introduce you to a THOUSAND sh**s! " This book is a good study of those types.

If you have an interest in music, law, business or any combination, this is a fascinating book.

Anyone thinking of getting into the music biz MUST read this. All the pitfalls, dangers, stupid moves that one could encounter are told in harrowing style.

From the smallest fry to the biggest names, legal missteps are illustrated in a VERY readable style by an attorney. You won't believe these stories, stranger than fiction.

I couldn't put this down.

I bought this book for a course I'm taking about the music business and after reading it, I'm so glad I did. It's an easy read since it's broken into several chapters...each about a particular musician or group. The chapters tell the story of a legal battle or a deal gone terribly wrong. It illustrates the pitfalls that lay before artists when it comes to publicity, trademarks, estate planning, merchandising, copyright infringement, royalty claims, publishing, bankruptcy, and so much more. I particularly enjoyed the stories about Elvis Presley, Billy Joel, The Beatles, and Judas Priest. A terrific addition to your personal library.

Nothing says "big business" like a good lawsuit or two... and here's a book that's full of them. Whether it's Billy Joel suing his brother-in-law (who was also his business manager), the Shirelles suing George Harrison, the Beatles suing each other, or some hick parents suing Judas Priest for "causing" their kids to commit suicide (even though they came from physically violent homes), it's all fun and games in the rock and roll courtroom. Most of these are fairly well-known cases, but Soocher's light-handed style lends itself to a quick read. He doesn't get hung up on minutae, and keeps the narrative down to a minimum (although conversely, he also has a genteel streak wherein he sometimes alludes to lurid incidents without fully explaining them, which can get irksome...) Censorship comes up in a few of these cases, but mostly it's all about money, money, money, with a little concern for intellectual property thrown in for good measure. Oddly enough, I found George Michael's lawsuit against Sony to be one of the more interesting chapters in this book -- maybe just because it was one of the least familiar cases. At any rate, if you want to keep your illusions about showbiz intact, you might wanna veer away from this one. If, on the other hand, you're curious about what makes a multi-million dollar contract tick, then snap it up.