Leading entertainment industry publications The Hollywood Reporter and
Billboard have featured a lawsuit filed by Grimes LLC on behalf of Evergreen Media Holdings and producer Tony DeRosa-Grund concerning publishing rights to the Stax Records music catalog. The Stax Records music label is iconic in the history of music having launched the careers of Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes and Booker T and The MG’s, among others.
As reported in The Hollywood Reporter, Stuart Benjamin — an Academy Award nominated producer for
Ray — is involved in developing, along with Concord Music Group, a Broadway musical about Stax Records and was planning to launch the musical in the Spring of 2016. As alleged in the lawsuit, however, Concord Music Group only holds rights to sound recordings related to Stax Records whereas the publishing rights are held by Rondor Music which are, in turn, licensed, exclusively, to Evergreen and Mr. DeRosa-Grund. Without the publishing rights, Concord does not have the right to use or exploit the publishing rights to the song compositions in film, or on the Broadway stage.
Evergreen and Mr. DeRosa-Grund — who achieved widespread acclaim as producers for the hit motion picture The Conjuring — are proceeding with plans to concurrently develop a film and Broadway musical based on the Stax Music catalog.
The case, Evergreen Media Group, LLC, et al v. Wood Creek Capital Management, LLC, et al, is pending the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut and is being led by
Charles W. Grimes and
Michael R. Patrick. The articles are available at
Hollywoodreporter.com and
Billboard.com.
