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Administration Deal No Bar to Songs Grant from Artist
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee ruled that a music publisher's exclusive administration rights to songs by recording artist Lori McKenna didn't prevent Warner Bros. Records (WBR) from getting the rights directly from McKenna for compositions on McKenna's Bittertown album. Melanie Howard Music Inc. (MHM) v. Warner Bros. Records Inc., 3:08-0979.
MHM filed a copyright infringement suit over songs on both McKenna's Bittertown and Unglamorous albums alleging that WBR failed to procure licenses from the publisher. (MHM also claimed it wasn't bound by a controlled composition clause in McKenna's WBR agreement that limited payment of songs to 11 compositions for an album.) MHM had signed McKenna to an exclusive songwriting agreement (ESA) in 2004 that gave MHM 100% of the copyrights in songs written by McKenna during the term of the agreement and 50% for songs previously written by her that became “new recordings.” MHM also obtained the exclusive administration rights for McKenna songs in which it received copyright interests. McKenna's recording agreement with WBR was dated Aug. 30, 2005, but signed in November 2005. The Bittertown album was released on Sept. 27, 2005.
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