The latest battle has been over their classic song "Stairway to Heaven," and amazingly, court proceedings are now in their fifth year. On September 23rd, the battle continues — once again — in federal court.
That's when the full 'en banc' panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the copyright infringement lawsuit that the descendants of Randy Wolfe initially filed against Led Zeppelin. The descendants insist that the opening cords of "Stairway to Heaven" were stolen from a song that the late guitarist wrote called "Taurus," which was performed by the band Spirit.
[...] In August, more than 120 music artists filed an amicus brief in support of the band. The artists have said that if the lawsuit against Led Zeppelin succeeds, it could seriously hamper creativity in music. Even more impressively, the U.S. government also filed an amicus brief on behalf of Led Zeppelin, citing the need to "foster innovation and creative expression."
Previously:
Led Zeppelin Appear in Court Over Stairway to Heaven Vs Spirits Taurus Dispute
Music Copyright Laws Worsen as Artists Give Up
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 23 2019, @06:46AM
Also, the last I checked lots of bands are making more money from touring ( https://www.businessinsider.com/how-do-musicians-make-money-2018-10/ [businessinsider.com] https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/how-musicians-make-money-or-dont-at-all-in-2018-706745/ [rollingstone.com] ) than due to copyright related income streams. Seems that's been true for a long time.
I also know some small time musicians and they don't earn the bulk of their money from albums or singles either.
So even if copyright law completely didn't exist it wouldn't affect the artists that much.
And see also: https://genius.com/Steve-albini-the-problem-with-music-annotated [genius.com]