Tribute Bands question

[Leslie Ehrlich]

...but I am not sure there is room for a Tele picker in an imitation Piano Man band.

Makes me think of a Billy Joel poster I saw in a record shop in the early 1980s. Billy Joel was not sitting at the piano. He was posing with an electric guitar, and guess what kind of guitar it was?

[Dave Mudgett]

No. Why should they? Admittedly, "sounds" are covered under regular copyright laws.

What about the dramatic performance issue mentioned earlier? I agree that you can't copyright image or "look and feel", but legally, I don't think it's anywhere near as cut and dried as some of you argue. Some tributes are basically historical traipses through a band's past, and my sense is that they could easily be viewed as dramatic performances.

I do agree that there can be a symbiotic relationship between tribute and original bands, but to say that the copyright holder never has rights here is probably wrong.

Satires (on Obama or whomever) are a special case - that is protected speech under the 1st Amendment. This may protect Weird Al, but I don't see how it covers a bona-fide historical reenactment of a band's career like some of these tributes do.

I wonder if the "Beatlemania" production pays royalties to you know who. They're the "original" tribute band, IMO - they started in the late 70s or early 80s. I'll bet they do - they call themselves "The Cast of Beatlemania" - http://www.thecastofbeatlemania.com/. But I'll ask them next time I see them - they're here next month, and are very generous about holding forth after the show. They're good musicians, put on a great show, and this is the closest our kids will ever come to seeing the Beatles live.

[Chris LeDrew]

We do a Tom Petty thing every few months, consisting of 5 guys who love Petty tunes. We play the songs faithfully, but sometimes flesh them out with solos and different types of breakdowns, etc. (no pun intended to Petty fans ). We don't try to look or act like Petty, but as Tony said in an earlier post, this stuff wrks great when the material is played by like-minded musicians of the original artists' genre. In our case, this is true. We're roots rockers, and cut our teeth on Petty stuff. So for us it's natural and doesn't feel forced.

As far as royalties go, I assume Petty gets no more or less from ASCAP than the artists playing on the sound system between breaks.

[Bill Bassett]

Long before Elvis died there were tributes and impersonators all around the world.

The next big developement was the proliferation of tribal casinos. Instant venue.

The rest is just capitalism running it's course.

BDBassett

[Bo Borland]

There's a local singer and player who does a Alan J show, he's plays Vegas, Myrtle Beach , Branson...etc I guess he makes a nice living.. much better than when he was picking the local bars.

What's the difference between playing hits from all your favorites or just the one you might look a little like.

When I first saw him I thought he would be a poser.... but he can really play.

[Jim Cohen]

Bo, I think that's the guy I saw the other night. Had Jimmy Heffernan on steel with him. Sounded good.

[Bo Borland]

Yep, that would be Doug Brewin...i thinks that how he spells his name. He has the Late Night Rodeo band that plays locally with some great pickers..Hef, Ernie Trionfa, Chris Christino, Jack Sammons ..It seems like whoever can show up.
I saw them a while back at the Strait show playing in the bar before the show.

[Joey Ace]

Doug Brewin is correct.

http://www.alanjacksontribute.com/