SWEET LAWSUIT O’ MINE?
Axl Rose’s legal team put kibosh on Rapidfire digital music release
Facebook — And so it continues. We have covered this story before and will give you the latest on Rapidfire as we know it.
Rapidfire is a band that formed over 3 decades over and shortly thereafter created and recorded some demos in March 1983.
The band was just 4 young guys in Hollywood trying to make a name for themselves. They played a handful of shows including an appearance at Gazzarri’s and the Troubadour.
Their first and last studio session resulted in a 5 song EP which hit digital outlets earlier this month. A full 31 years and 8 months later.
But just as quickly as Rapidfire came together, their singer Bill Bailey quit the group.
Axl Rose far left and Lawrence in the driver seat in a rare Rapidfire photo
Soon after Bailey changed his name to Axl Rose and debuted his new band, Hollywood Rose.
That soon transformed itself into Guns N’ Roses. And from there, arguably became the biggest band in the world.
Turning back the clock to 1983, let’s note that the guitarist who started Rapidfire, also hired Bill Bailey (Axl Rose). His name is Kevin Lawrence.
We’ve done a few pieces on Kevin and Rapidfire. We have noted those articles below.
IT’S SO EASY a recent interview with Lawrence was published on Sept 1st 2014 is right HERE.
RAPIDFIRE GUITARIST IMPLORES FANS OF AXL ROSE FOR SUPPORT after death of attorney and friend. This was published on Feb 23rd 2014 and is right HERE
AXL ROSE PLAYED GAZZARRI’S 30 YEARS AGO TODAY was published on May 28th 1983 and is right HERE
Lawrence the guitarist and main song writer for Rapidfire has been battling Rose for more than a decade to release these songs. The tracks, “Ready To Rumble”, “Prowler”, “Closure”, “On The Run” and “All Night Long” are the earliest known recordings that feature the world famous Guns N’ Roses mastermind on vocals.
The music release has grabbed some headlines and gotten the attention of music news outlets globally. A recent interview with Lawrence featured on MAXIM may have bitten him in the ass. Lawrence is quoted as saying, “We mixed it, had it remastered, had a little artwork done for the front, and put it out there. And I haven’t heard a word. They know they have no case. Josh was very clear in his letters that they have no say in my music, just because some unknown named Bill Bailey was on it and now he’s a star.”
A few weeks back the tracks finally hit iTunes and just like clockwork, it appears that Axl and his legal team have put the kibosh on it once again.
Below is a post made yesterday on the official Rapidfire facebook.
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Just a “heads up” to all you Rapidfire fans….. Mr. Bailey is trying yet again to bully us, as he has for 11 years, and illegally remove the Rapidfire recordings from all stores (digital and physical) and so it will be taken down from all stores temporarily until this is resolved, which takes about 10 business days so about 2 weeks (not 12 years.) I am completely within my rights to release my own music, and am at this moment filing a DMCA Counter Notification to get the songs back up. We have PA and SR Copyrights to everything in my name, and are completely within our rights to release music that I solely wrote and paid for. Below is a copy of my now deceased lawyer’s last letter to Mr. Bailey’s attorney, which gave him ample opportunity to respond and negotiate this. Per usual we got no response. Wish me luck so I can continue to bring this music to you. If you choose to help with the fight you can contact Doug Mark at:
contactus@markmml.com Attn: Doug Mark.
Tel. 310.818.7240
Fax. 310.818.7249
Let’s win this together!
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Last and long legal letter to Doug Mark 1/1/14:
Re: The Rapidfire Recordings/Your Client: Axl Rose.
Dear Doug:
This is a somewhat difficult letter to write – not due to the subject matter, but because I choose to walk a fine line. In 2013 you did and said things on behalf of your client that have no legal or factual basis. I cannot condone such behavior, but I also will not condemn you for it. I seek to prevent a war, not start one. In this situation doing so requires blunt honesty. It is not intended to offend. It also requires giving you fair warning. It is not intended as a threat.
I don’t know whether you or your client took the time to read “The Story of the Rapidfire Recordings.” Hopefully, you did. If you haven’t, please do. I do not plan on reiterating any of its substance here. I realize it is long and that much of the tale may be of little interest to you. Just focus on the facts, their legal impact and the overall tone of the message. At times, you may get the impression that I was attempting to cozy up or curry favor. That is not the case. The Story contained absolutely nothing I did not believe to be true.
In order to understand fully why I portrayed Axl Rose as I did, you need to know that one of my single degrees of separation from him happens to be another of my oldest and dearest friends. She has absolutely no connection to my client, Kevin Lawrence, but she has deep roots with Axl. She was no mere hanger-on. She was an integral part of GNR’s inner circle during the Band’s earliest years. To me, she is practically family. I trust and value her opinion accordingly. To her, Axl is like family. Their many years apart have done nothing to dim her fierce loyalty. My perspective is based on hers because it is well-informed and reliable. And to a degree, her deep allegiance to Axl colors my convictions and actions. I would never choose to do anything that hurts her, or anyone she loves.
To the extent that I had an agenda regarding the future of the Recordings when I wrote their story, I made no attempt to hide it. Simply put, I think it’s idiotic and wasteful to battle over issues that are not open to debate – and I hoped to avoid a fight where none was necessary. To the best of my knowledge, there can be no legitimate dispute between Kevin Lawrence and Axl Rose when it comes to Rapidfire or its recordings. If there’s something I’m missing, I’m all ears.
One thing I might not have made entirely clear in the Story is just how little my client cared about whether or not the Recordings were ever made public. As strange as it may seem, Kevin’s initial motivation to dig them up actually was no more than a misguided effort to set the record straight regarding Axl’s history in the studio. He saw the potential for profit, of course. And the cost/benefit analysis I described was real. Then again, how much would it cost to prevail over Axl with the Cleopatra Records decision as both precedent and a roadmap? Perhaps you noticed that I linked to the decision on the preliminary injunction and left out certain details about the final disposition of the case. This was intentional.
My goal was to educate, not to embarrass. I also wanted to address everyone’s questions all at once, and once and for all. Pointing out that Axl lost on summary judgment and was ordered to pay Cleopatra Records’ fees and costs would have raised more questions about Kevin’s decision. It also would have unnecessarily rubbed the defeat in Axl’s face, and those of his attorneys. I have no problem poking fun at our profession or its practitioners. But I took great pains to avoid identifying the individuals who wrote the letters in 2004. It certainly was not out of fear of being sued. It was out of courtesy.
Courtesy also explains why I declined to comment when the reporter for Yahoo! Music contacted me about your firm’s baseless claim of copyright infringement on YouTube. Yes, what you did was annoying. Yes, it was an abuse of YouTube’s rules. Arguably, it was even a violation of 17 USC § 506(c). But no, it was not worth drawing battle lines over. We gave a gift to people who had been begging for it. Aside from temporarily wiping the smile from his face, your action did Kevin no harm. It was the fans trying to follow all those useless links who paid the price – your client’s fans, not mine.
Frankly, your quote in the article was the most irksome aspect. I doubt you would knowingly assert false claims of infringement. Your failure to return my calls after I queried you on the basis for your allegation told me enough. You leapt before you looked. Claiming that “(w)henever there’s unauthorized Axl Rose or Guns N’ Roses audio, video or merchandise, we take aggressive efforts to have it removed from the marketplace,” simply cannot be true. Searching “axl rose” on YouTube nets around 573,000 hits, and “guns n roses” nets nearly 1.9 million. It beggars belief to suggest that your firm’s aggression is so broadly and blindly applied – especially when one notes that many clearly unofficial posts have been up for years and have received tens of millions of views.
With no apparent effort to stem the tidal wave of unauthorized GNR music and videos on YouTube, it’s hard to see your action against Kevin’s post as par for the course. The clip from “Ready to Rumble” was put up without fanfare and was accompanied by a bare, factual description. Beyond that, it was nothing more than a few seconds of a song written, recorded and copyrighted by Kevin Lawrence. Your client does have certain rights in connection with the Recordings. Preventing them from being played publicly is not one of them.
From our vantage point, the public reaction to the “Ready to Rumble” clip merely reinforced things we already knew. There is a tremendous audience for these songs; they are worthy in their own right; and they showcase your client’s talent in a purely positive way. Releasing it was not a precursor to anything, nor did it change our position regarding the disposition of the Recordings in general. Your actions did, however.
To date, I don’t think anyone can claim that Kevin or I have failed to treat both your client and his protected rights with great respect. Such respect must be reciprocal, however. Just as Kevin must tread cautiously when making reference to Axl Rose or Guns N’ Roses in connection with Rapidfire, Axl needs to respect all of Kevin’s rights when it comes to his protected properties. And I would argue that false claims of ownership are far worse offenses than bumping up against the boundaries of fair use or the right of publicity. Kevin has religiously avoided the latter since he learned of these concepts in 2004. I thought that we’d gotten past the former at the same time.
Of course, Kevin has gone beyond mere compliance with the laws that protect your client. He kept the Recordings under wraps and took no steps towards releasing or marketing them. He did this with full knowledge that he had every right to do so. And it was not because he had no desire to have the world hear his music. He simply weighed his interests and determined that, on balance, it was not worth pursuing. The decision was predicated in part on practicality, but it was primarily about respect. It was also a decision I influenced.
To understand Kevin’s decision fully, you need to know that neither he nor I have ever been certain what Axl’s specific wishes were when it came to the Rapidfire Recordings. The letters from his attorneys in 2004 were meaningless nonsense, which I interpreted as boilerplate. My subsequent conversations with his counsel were no more enlightening. Under the circumstances we could only make semi-educated guesses about what Axl really wanted. Doing essentially nothing with the Recordings was no skin off Kevin’s back, and seemed like the appropriate course.
Nevertheless, over the years people remained interested in Rapidfire. Every once in a while Kevin would answer an inquiry and make some vague reference to releasing the songs one day. Eventually, he made responding to the public my responsibility. After years of mostly ignoring the e-mails I received, I decided to tell the story of the Recordings from the beginning. It was posted on the silver anniversary of “Appetite for Destruction” as a salute to GNR. The result was more interest in the recordings themselves, and no backlash from any quarter.
Because people were clambering for more – even just a little taste of these fabled recordings – I decided to give the fans a little gift to commemorate another anniversary. I created the “Ready to Rumble” clip and sent the link to the fans whose e-mail addresses I had saved over the years, along with the following message:
“Thirty years ago today, Kevin Lawrence went into the studio with Axl Rose, Mike Hamernik and Chuck Gordon. They recorded five songs. As all of you know, none of them have ever been released to the public. Although nothing has changed in this regard, I can see no harm in posting a small sample of the opening track. So many people continue to express their interest in the Rapidfire Recordings, it seems like a good way to satisfy everyone’s curiosity and to mark this anniversary. Enjoy.”
There was no press release. I did not announce it on any of the fan sites. Kevin only found out about it when I asked for his approval on the day it was released. My action had no business purpose. No one made any money as a result. I gave the public a gift. Your client’s rights weren’t violated. And if it had any impact on his image, it was a positive one. More to the point, I was acting well within my rights and the boundaries of the law. The same cannot be said of your response.
The point here isn’t to bust your chops. And I’ve already said you’ve done no harm, so there can be no foul. I am simply making a point. If you decide to take action, make certain you have the legal right to do so and be straightforward about your motivations. We owe this level of care to our clients, and to one another as colleagues. I refuse to practice any other way. I hope you and I are of like minds on this subject. And I hope you will help keep me honest. This will have great relevance going forward.
The chances are that Kevin was the only person surprised by the public’s reaction to the “Ready to Rumble” sample. He’s his own worst critic, which left him pleasantly unprepared for the fact that people responded so favorably to his music. When the press picked up on the news and the comments started pouring in, he began to consider releasing the recordings seriously for the first time since 2004. Your ironically hypocritical act of bringing everything to a screeching halt was what sealed the deal in his mind. If his rights weren’t going to be respected, what point is there in continuing to keep his music under wraps out of courtesy?I agree with him.
The purpose of this letter is to inform you that Kevin will be releasing the Rapidfire Recordings to the public in 2014, and to give you one final chance to convince me that your client has some legal right to prevent this from happening. In fact, Kevin and I will go beyond that and will consider any reason you or your client can articulate that might affect the decision to release the Recordings, irrespective of its legal basis. Although the latter is nothing more than a courtesy, I assure you that legitimate reasons will be taken just as seriously as legal rights. We have not abandoned courtesy or our willingness to consider Axl’s personal wishes. At this point, we don’t even know for certain that he instigated the false allegations of infringement.
It is important for you not to mistake this kindness for weakness, however. Kevin’s rights and remedies in this situation are absolutely clear. Unless we are convinced to do otherwise, they will be vigorously defended and pursued. I strongly advise against holding anything back now. Doing so will only bolster Kevin’s ability to recover his legal fees and costs from Axl, and could expose your client to liability for other damages. Consider this to be your speak-now-or-forever-hold-your
If I receive no response from you within thirty (30) days from the date of this letter I will presume your client has no interest in the matter and will not interfere with my client’s activities in any way. If you need more time, a reasonable extension will be granted. Be advised, however, that any legal action taken after this offer has expired will almost certainly be considered strategic, with all of the consequences that word implies. Given the clear evidence of copyright ownership and the very real possibility of issue preclusion stemming from the Cleopatra Records decision, ultimately, litigation will end up being a costly, losing proposition for your client alone.
If you would like to discuss any of the foregoing, your calls are always welcome.
Please note that by sending this letter, I am not enumerating all nor waiving any of Kevin Lawrence’s legal rights, and all such rights are hereby expressly reserved.
Happy New Year,
Joshua Solomon
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Below is a sample of the Rapidfire music that has been on youtube since May 2013, a full 30 years after the recording was made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLQGLEdmILU
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