“Don Henley Claims ‘Arrogant’ Frank Ocean, Okkervil River Stole Songs”

“Okkervil River Responds to Don Henley: Copyright Laws Kill Art”

Which way do you want it? No copyright laws or Spotify bitching?

I’m not saying Don Henley’s doesn’t have his finger in the dike of progress, but…

What? What in god’s name are you talking about?

You see the Eagles are on tour overseas. And when you go on tour, reporters ask you questions, and Henley was asked about that Frank Ocean song set to “Hotel California” and a “cover” of “End Of The Innocence,” Henley had them taken down.

Oh, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Ocean set a song to the entire track of “Hotel California,” and the guy from Okkervil River changed the lyrics and more to “End Of The Innocence,” and the truth is, under copyright law, Henley has the right to have these tracks taken down. And if you don’t like copyright law, change it, as ASCAP and BMI are trying to do, but the funny thing is everybody bitching that they want to do it THEIR way suddenly goes ballistic when the public decides to do the same damn thing.

Forget the consumer end of it, what people see on YouTube and hear on Spotify. I’m on the receiving end of the wannabe musician fight, never mind the established musician fight, and the number one complaint you get from everybody in the music business today is…I CAN’T MAKE ANY MONEY!

They blame Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. And then Daniel Ek. As if being under thirty was a crime against humanity. They haven’t read Malcolm Gladwell’s screed wherein he states that inventions are in the air, that if Fanning and Parker hadn’t invented Napster, someone else would have come out with a similar service around the same time.

So the ball was pushed forward. Metallica’s career was dented in the process. But that’s how change happens, someone pushes and someone reacts.

But at this late date, things have sort of become solidified.

I’ll make it very clear, you can’t sample without paying, which is why hip-hop is completely different these days, twenty-odd years ago seemingly every rap hit stole a lick.

But it turns out now you can’t do that. And I for one will argue we’re worse off for it. Because the beats we have today, which resulted from this enforcement of copyright law, are so much less interesting. Used to be there was some melody, a hook! Come on, wasn’t Tone Loc’s “Wild Thing,” with Eddie Van Halen’s guitar, much more interesting than most of the music today?

So Don Henley’s a man of laws. At least in public. I’m sure he did his protesting of the drug laws back in his day. Then again, he didn’t get on the runway, light up a joint, put out his middle finger and say to the feds COME GET ME!

Which is kind of what Frank Ocean and Okkervil River did here. These were not kids at home playing for their buddies, these were professionals trying to make it, in the case of Frank Ocean, he most certainly did, why should the rules not apply to him?

And then there’s this guy from Okkervil River, mad that he can’t continue the folk tradition of changing things to his liking. Does this guy even have a lawyer, has he read Don Passman’s book? Has he never heard of lawsuits? How Ray Parker, Jr. paid Huey Lewis? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Since you can barely stop these rearrangements/covers, maybe we need a change in copyright law. So the original composer can be compensated. Then again, it gets even more complicated when the covering artist gives his music away for free.

So, it looks like Don Henley is fighting a losing battle.

Only he’s not. Or to put it in another way, where there’s a writ, there’s a hit. If you’re making money off what I do, I’m gonna SUE!

And believe me, this guy in Okkervil River wants to make money, otherwise why would he be putting out this entire cover series for free?

It’s kind of like Disney, which protects its intellectual property to the nth degree. Because it’s all it has.

Don Henley may be rich, but his songs and recordings are all he has. And most of those recordings are owned by the man, who never pays what he should and doesn’t pay on time. And suddenly he’s the enemy?

Furthermore, by today’s standards, Henley’s not that rich. The guys you don’t know the name of are.

But the truth is so many talk out of both sides of their mouth. They want to utilize the new tools yet complain that the new tools rip them off, they’re not consistent.

You can’t steal a live performance, which is why Henley and the Eagles are out on the road and haven’t made new music in nearly a decade.

Frank Ocean and Okkervil River could do the same thing. But they’d rather use the Internet to embellish their images on the backs of Henley’s work.

It’s damn complicated. Henley’s right, but it’s easy to argue he’s wrong. Then again, rap acts who fly above the radar no longer rip off willy-nilly, as stated above. Furthermore, give Henley credit for asking these questions, having a brain, employing his intellect, he comes from an era where there was a middle class, and it was reasonable for the intelligent to make music, to become recording stars. Today, what people who are left like that don’t. Because music is the land of the underclass and the wannabe. Or, to put it simply, why doesn’t the Okkervil River guy write a song as ubiquitous as “Take It Easy,” never mind “End Of The Innocence.” Ditto on Frank Ocean. For all the hype, he certainly hasn’t written his “Hotel California,” although he’s used the original to further his career.

Accuse me all day long of being a Henley lover.

I’ll say this is a guy who has always stood up for what he believed in, from Walden Woods to now. And too many of today’s stars are afraid to take a stand on anything, they’re just interested in how they look and…the money.

But how are they gonna make that money again?

P.S. I almost hate writing this, because it’s gonna generate so many hits for “Rolling Stone,” this is what the press loves, a ginned-up fight to sell papers, in this case clicks, but forgetting the vitriol, there’s a serious issue underneath.

Okkervil River cover