Music legends sue concert video site

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 19 Dec 2006 at 11:14

A super group of music legends - LedZeppelin, Santana, The Grateful Dead and The Doors - have got their legal sights on Wolfgang's Vault. This is a website that specialises in streaming live concert performances from the 1960s and 70s.

The groups are suing the site on the basis that it is has no right to offer the recordings, which are also used to stimulate sales of T-shirts and other memorabilia.

The vault - which can be found at www.wolfgangsvault.com - has thousands of audio and video recordings that were originally collected by Bill Graham, the former US concert promoter.

The suit was filed at a Californian District Court and it targets one William Sagan, who bought the assets of Graham for $5 million more than three years ago.

'Sagan simply doesn't have the legal rights to exploit and profit from the extraordinary success of these musicians,' said Jeff Reeves, who represents the artists, in a statement.

The suit will be a blow to Wolfgang's Vault, which has been tipped as a rising online star. For example, earlier this year, Time highlighted the site among its list of notable websites for 2006.