Clint Fabiosa & Ana Liza Villamor
ROLLING Stone magazine (www.rollingstone.com) reports that indie rock band, Okkervil River, made a cover version of Don Henley’s song “The End of the Innocence” without the latter’s permission. Henley, the vocalist-drummer of The Eagles, asked Okkervil River to remove the said song from the band’s release called “Golden Opportunities 3.”
In response, Okkervil River’s vocalist claims that artists “copied each other” and that “artists are supposed to … communicate back and forth with each other over the generations, take old ideas and make them new (since it’s impossible to really ‘imitate’ somebody without adding anything of your own), create a rich, shared cultural language that was available to everybody.”
If you were Henley, would you have done the same? If somebody else recorded your song – without your knowledge and consent – what will you do? Will you be flattered or incensed?