Dwight Yoakam Guitars Cadillacs: Download and Stream on Mediafire

March 3, 2021 is a significant anniversary in the world of Dwight Yoakam and country music. It’s been 35 years since Dwight Yoakam’s debut album, Guitars, Cadillacs Etc., Etc., was released on Warner Bros. Records and launched the Kentucky-born, Bakersfield-inspired singer-songwriter on the path to stardom. But if you don’t have a physical copy, you can’t celebrate by spinning the historic album. Amid an ongoing legal battle between Dwight Yoakam and his previous label, the entire album has been removed from most music streaming and download services. This comes after two songs on the album, “Honky Tonk Man” and “Miner’s Prayer”, went missing in February. Dwight Yoakam is suing Warner Music Group for failing to return the copyright to his songs on the album under Section 203 of the Copyright Act. This is a much-discussed provision of US copyright law, originally enacted in the Copyright Act of 1976, which states that after 35 years, original authors can cancel copyright grants. transferred to others and claim them for themselves. “They have profited from Mr. Yoakam’s art for decades and are now denying him his fundamental right to claim copyright, which is granted to him under copyright law,” the lawsuit says. According to the case filed on February 8 in the United States District Court for Central California (see full), Dwight Yoakam first notified Warner Music of his intent to recover his copyright in February 2019 and sent the company copyright termination notices. Then, in December 2020, Yoakam filed his own copyright notices for official registration with the United States Copyright Office. For the past two years, WMG has not responded to Yoakam’s requests to transfer copyright ownership under the lawsuit, and on January 29, Yoakam sent a final notice to Warner threatening to sue if no action is taken. Warner Music Group has hypothetically made the album unavailable so as not to gain more profit from Yoakam’s lawsuit, though it could also be a bargaining tactic. Sales of new physical copies may also be discontinued. The reason “Miner’s Prayer” and “Honky Tonk Man” were dropped first was because the songs were released as promotional singles before the album. Dwight Yoakam’s lawsuit states that releasing songs (and now the entire album) hurts Yoakam due to lost revenue and ties the songs to other opportunities. “By refusing to return Mr. Yoakam’s works while refusing to exploit the same works, Defendants are essentially holding Mr. Yoakam’s copyright hostage and crippling Mr. Yoakam’s ability to financially benefit from his legal right to put an end to the transfer of your copyright.” says the lawsuit. The exercise of Section 203 of the Copyright Act when recordings reach the 35-year threshold is a part of copyright law that has been long debated and the subject of numerous lawsuits. There are currently several class action lawsuits pending in New York involving Sony and Universal Music Group, and they have been brought by the likes of John Waite and Joe Ely. The lawsuit against Dwight Yoakam further claims that Warner’s subsidiary Rhino Records has proposed new copyright terms to Yoakam, but will not acknowledge that ownership has officially reverted to Yoakam. “Mr. Yoakam cannot earn royalties on these works, his fans cannot listen to these works, and his stream count, a quantifier that directly affects a song’s known value, is adversely affected,” the lawsuit states, “ Even if Mr. Yoakam was able to reintroduce his works to online streaming platforms without Defendants’ cooperation, the number of streams for each of the works would start from scratch again, reducing perception. Also, if the lawsuit is not settled, parts of Dwight Yoakam’s second album, Hillbilly Deluxe, were released in 1987 and is due for release in July. Meanwhile, those who have bought and never sold physical copies of Guitars, Cadillacs Etc., Etc. feel pretty smart, while those who have embraced streaming on a large scale have nowhere to turn to listen to Dwight Yoakam’s landmark songs like “Honky Tonk Man” and “It Won’t Hurt” on request.