Don in the Press/Blogs/etc.

[Troubadour]

Poor woman! Nice to read that Don was so sweet.

[Prettymaid]

Awww, the show must go on!

[sodascouts]

Just some music business stuff - wonder if this has anything to do with the YouTube crackdown?

From the CMU News Blog:

Don Henley Extends Warner/Chappell Deal

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Well - I think this is all pretty confusing. Can any of our members shed some light on this for me? I figured that each of the four current Eagles has a publishing company to represent them for their solo work. However, I also figured the Eagles 'ownership' (Eagles, Ltd.) would have one publishing company to represent the Eagles' catalogue. I know Don and Glenn each own shares of the Eagles' catalogue, but how does it work to have separate publishing companies involved? I don't believe that any one member has exclusive rights to any Eagles song, do they? Also, does this mean that Cass County Music will not be representing Don in the future?

[sodascouts]

While admittedly I'm no expert, I think the individual Eagles have had separate publishing entities for a while (Cass County - Don, Red Cloud - Glenn, Jeddrah Music - Tim, etc.), although Cass County and Red Cloud were both overseen by Lisa Thomas Music Services (she'd put "dba Cass County" for Don and "dba Red Cloud" for Glenn).

Each publishing entity is in charge of getting royalties from the music distribution of their client's work. So, let's say Don co-writes a song with Tim, like he did for "Do Something." They each get royalties. Don's publisher takes care of his share, and leaves Tim's publisher to worry about getting Tim's share.

One time, I was e-mailed by a girl who had performed a cover of "Take It to the Limit" and was selling it through MySpace. She was contacted by Lisa Thomas Music Services so that they could collect royalties for Don and Glenn from her. The girl asked Ms. Thomas about what she could do to give Randy his share, and Ms. Thomas gave her an address to write to, but that's it. The girl told me that the address Ms. Thomas had given her wasn't correct and Ms. Thomas couldn't give her any more information except to talk to ASCAP, that they might know. The girl asked me if I knew how to reach Randy because that hadn't worked for her either. Unfortunately, I had to tell her no, and as far as I know she was never able to give Randy his share.

In other words, Ms. Thomas did not concern herself with ensuring Randy got his third - she was working for Don and Glenn. Each Eagle for himself.

Perhaps Don is transferring the administration of Cass County Music to Warner/Chappell from Lisa Thomas Music Services in order to consolidate his royalty gathering. In 1994, Don's publisher for Eagles material was Black Cypress Music adm. by WB Music Corp; after 2000, Don's publisher on Eagles material was listed as "Privet Songs." I am unsure as to whether Privet Songs was administered by Warner/Chappell but it appears it will be now.

So, it seems to me that all of Don's Eagles publishing not currently administered by Warner/Chappell (Cass County for music prior to 1980, Privet Sounds for music after 2001 if that was not under their purview already) will now be transferred to Warner/Chappell administration. The names themselves will remain and simply be written in the same manner as Black Cypress Music - ie, "Cass County adm. by Warner/Chappell Music Corp.") Warner, which was already in charge of getting his royalties for his solo work, will now be in charge of getting royalties for all of his Eagles work. They will not concern themselves with getting royalty shares for any of the other Eagles.

I think that we as fans will see no difference - this is all behind-the-scenes business stuff.

[Freypower]

Just to add to the confusion the credits for Inside Job list 'Wisteria Music' for Don's part of the publishing. What happened to that?

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Thanks for the response Soda. I understand what you are saying, but doesn't a publisher do more than collect royalties for their clients? What I'm getting at is that I don't see the advantage of different publishing companies representing various members of a band. It seems to me the band would be best served if all members of the band used the same publisher for the work they do as a member of the band. My understanding is that the publishing company also represents the artist in intellectual property matters. So to use the Eagles as an example, what happens if Don and Glenn have separate publishers and there is a disagreement on some intellectual property matter that the two of them share? It seems to me that the Eagle's best interest isn't being represented with two separate publishers who are not on the same page. Using a single publishing company ensures that the Eagles interest as a band is being represented rather than having two companies going in two different directions to represent their individual client's (Don and Glenn) interests. Hope this makes sense because I was having a hard time trying to explain myself.

[Freypower]

I thought the publishing company represented the songwriters. As two separate people Don and Glenn each have their own publishing company. They always have had separate companies (so do the others - Wow & Flutter Music & Jeddrah Music). If you go back & look at songbooks or album cover credits the Henley-Frey songs have always been attributed to Cass County Music/Red Cloud Music until LROOE when it changed to Privet Music/Red Cloud. On the song Long Road Out Of Eden, the credit is Privet/RC/Jeddrah to reflect the Henley-Frey-Schmit authorship. This is about songwriting. Their other interests as members of the band are taken care of by their management.

If there have ever been any disputes over 'intellectual property' between Cass County & Red Cloud, the ordinary fan is never going to know about them.

[sodascouts]

This isn't in the press per se but I thought I'd put it here as I got notified about it through an alert. Apparently these guys haven't heard of the Henley v. Dillard's lawsuit...

The Don Henley

ETA: This is a clothing item being sold by Urban Outfitters (hence the Dillard's Department Store reference).

[Freypower]

That took me to Urban Outfitters.