Fancy Guitars, Exotic Woods, and The Lacey Act

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Matthew Murrell

Wood Smugglers Slaughtered By Indian Police At the beginning of April, Indian police shot and killed twenty suspected red sandalwood smugglers in southern India. Though the police claim that they acted in self-defense, a two-week investigation revealed that the smuggling task force (probably) fabricated the self-defense justification, and several of the officers involved have been charged […]... Read More

Tidal’s Streaming “Revolution”

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Matthew Murrell

Introduction The outrage at Jay Z’s newly launched streaming service, Tidal, has been well documented. Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard went after the service, remarking, “this thing is going to fail miserably.” Mumford & Sons were also notably vocal, collectively making fart sounds when they were recently asked about it. At first blush, […]... Read More

Copyright 101: The Basics Of Copyright Law

Posted on April 10, 2015April 11, 2015 by Matthew Murrell

What is copyright? Because this blog will focus on the intersection between music and the law, including how that intersection affects music cities like Austin, Texas, where I live and practice law, occasionally it will feature a basic explanation of an area of the law to make that law more accessible to non-legal folks. A […]... Read More