It was reported in the papers today that Mike Batt had to pay a reported £100,000 out of court settlement for having a one minute silence on his album Classical Graffiti.

It was paid to the relatives of John Cage, famous for his piece 4'33", which consists of a pianist sitting down for four minutes and thirty three seconds and doing nothing. They sued that the concept of a performance that constituted silence was already copyrighted.

It looks like the out of court settlement was paid up so Batt would not have to spend millions on lawyers, even if he won.

So don't leave too many pauses in your compositions, maybe if they are too long you might end up sued!

This story is not a wind-up!

By the way, the funniest comment on the original piece of 4'33" was by Andre Previn who asked the composer "What do you do if the pianist doesn't show up?"

does a blank cd count?
there are 80 mins silence on those.£80,0000 settlement my goodness what is the world coming to
jan

[This message has been edited by kozykeys (edited 09-24-2002).]

[This message has been edited by kozykeys (edited 09-24-2002).]

I thought I'd better put a line in that this was a serious story, because otherwise it's so unbelievable everyone would just think it was a silly joke!

------------------
Willum

Keep Quiet Bill!!!
Walter

I was going to remain silent on this but just couldnt' ..... not to get off the thread, but in a world of ridiculous litigation, I read yesterday that some couple is suing McDonald's because their sons are obese ..... seems the sons ate McD's a few times a week, and McD didn't warn them that the foods were fatty !!!! Is there no resposibility for parenthood?!? .... what's even worse to me is that some court thinks this is worth hearing!!! .....
t.

Has the World gone MAD

------------------
Willum

nooooo! if you eat a big mac, just don't do it silently...