It seems the major labels will give just about anyone the shake-down these days, as their tightened belts (and assholes, and earholes, and...) make it harder and harder for their top men to keep affording all those Faberge egg omelets or whatever they eat in those tall-ass towers. Case in point: the crumbling major Warner Music Group Corp. recently won $33 million in a lawsuit that accused Leadsinger Corp., a maker of karaoke machines, of loading at least 220 songs into its players without obtaining the proper music licenses from Warner first. Shucks, and all Leadsinger wanted to do was make us happy.
Warner Music asked for default judgment after Leadsinger representatives apparently failed to appear at a final pre-trial hearing or to file any more documents with the court, which is apparently, um, pretty necessary if you plan on legally defending yourself in any way. As a result, Warner was granted $150,000 in statutory damages for each of the songs, and Leadsinger is barred from selling machines that contain any unlicensed Warner Music songs (duh), according to an August 27 order filed by U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips in a Los Angeles federal court.
Leadsinger currently sells karaoke machines through its website, as well as through retailers including Wal-Mart and Target. Probably right next to all the Warner CDs. No word on what Warner plans on doing with its hefty little payoff, but seeing as how it's probably a bit behind on the rent these days, it'll probably need to... aw heck, Faberge egg omelets all around!
