Fairness Rocks exists because musicians, composers, actors, screenwriters, film directors and their fellow artists all over the world have one thing in common – the belief in fair reward for creative contribution.
For too long, rights-owning conglomerates have failed to ensure the creative artists behind the works receive their rightful share of the rewards. The media companies have also failed to get to grips with the world of downloading and online distribution and, as a result, incomes of creators have been decimated. Movies or albums rarely recoup their costs, no matter how great a box office hit or how large the sales from records or streaming. Surely, the mathematics should be transparent.
So, just occasionally, individuals with both resources and guts take a large media company to court to highlight the mistreatment commonly experienced by creators and artists, and the lack of transparent accounting - as we, the creators of Spinal Tap - are now doing.
If you’re a creative in a similar boat – we hope this site will help you in your quest for fair reward.
Vested interests will play hardball. It’ll be uncomfortable for some.
But fairness is worth fighting for.
Harry
Shearer
Rob
Reiner
Micheal
McKean
Christopher
Guest
Fairness Rocks is a site designed to inform the talent who seek to ensure they are receiving fair reward for their artistic endeavour. There is an imbalance in the financial reward received by media companies and the talent. This problem appears widespread.
Vivendi, Studio Canal and Universal did not single out the Spinal Tap creators to treat them badly. The unfair treatment the four have received is meted out to the talent everywhere, every single day.
We hope the site will be useful to the talent, informative for journalists and insightful for others in the media industry who are willing to learn about what really goes on in the world of culture and entertainment.
The operators of Fairness Rocks accept no responsibility or liability for the accuracy, or otherwise, of the material featured. The information is intended only as a general guide to the film and music industries. Nothing on this site should be relied upon as legal advice. A specialist copyright legal adviser should be consulted where a reader has a particular legal or commercial issue in relation to matters referenced.
If you create an orginal piece of creative work your investment in its creation can be protected by law, and traded or assigned to a third party, usually for money.
Discover morePerformers are also protected by the law and will usually get an upfront fee for their services. However, mechanisms for royalties payments differ between countries.
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In some countries, creators have a "moral right" over their work - allowing them to control aspects of a work's use and the effect upon the creator's reputation.
Discover moreConsent is required when a third party wants to use either a copyright work or a performance. Consent takes the form of a licence. Copyrighted work can be carved up in a multitude of ways providing numerous, but specific, licences of a single work or performance at any one time.
Discover moreOnline streaming to mass audiences seemed like a great way of creating popular demand. Until creators realised that digital service providers were failing to pay reasonable rates for content. What's more, the talent has to rely on the streaming industry to provide acurate data to match downloads to artists/performers. The reality is digital has decimated the livelihoods of thousands of artists/performers.
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These international organisations assist the talent in the management and collection of royalty payments and are set up to navigate the differing local royalty regimes.
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It's been 43 years since the band Spinal Tap was formed
and 37 years since "This is Spinal Tap” (TIST) the feature film was released.
Yet we, the creators, have been told that global music sales from the soundtrack album total just US$98.
We’re also, apparently, only entitled to share US$81 (between us) from global merchandising sales.
This shocks us, given Tap’s enduring popularity.
So we are suing Vivendi and UMG, the TIST rights owners. We want the giant rights conglomerates to show us how exactly they are exploiting our creative work and to pay us, the creators, a fair share.
#FAIRNESSROCKS
Read stories of creators and artists who are standing up for their rights.
The truth behind remuneration imbalances.
Shocking Facts
Session Performers
Shocking Facts
Recording Artists
Having got here, you may now need more information and support in your fight for fairness. Collective associations are the best place to start.
Although you may feel David to the industry's Goliath, having the backing of trade bodies helps level the playing field.
Information is power!
Learn about the steps to take and the protections afforded to those who wish to call out wrongdoing.
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Rob Reiner, Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean, creators of the iconic mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap, have set up a wholly-owned entity to manage the licensing of the film and all rights related to it. With effect from 1st January 2021, the much-beloved movie and all featured characters, trademarks and associated rights will … Continue reading "SPINAL TAP CREATORS SET UP LICENSING BODY EXCLUSIVELY TO MANAGE EXPLOITATION OF THEIR ICONIC MOTION PICTURE"
Discover moreAs recently as fifteen years ago, the term “content” was heard only when people were discussing the cinema on a serious level, and it was contrasted with and measured against “form.” Then, gradually, it was used more and more by the people who took over media companies, most of whom knew nothing about the history … Continue reading "Il Maestro By Martin Scorsese: Federico Fellini and the lost magic of cinema"
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