Home : Celebrity Justice, Ellen DeGeneres : Ellen DeGeneres -- Name that Tune

Celebrity Justice
Ellen DeGeneres -- Name that Tune

Posted Sep 11th 2009 1:15AM by TMZ Staff

Ellen DeGeneresThe world's largest record companies are banding together to sue the Ellen DeGeneres show -- claiming producers owe them big for their songs that were played on the show.

It's all over the "dance" portion of Ellen's show -- according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Nashville, record execs claim they have never received a single penny for the hundreds of songs Ellen's danced to over the years.

The people behind the "Ellen" show say DeGeneres had nothing to with the case adding, "This matter does not involve our host, Ellen DeGeneres , who as everyone knows is a huge music enthusiast and advocate, and had no knowledge of issues regarding the use of music in the show."

Scott Rowe, spokesman for the show's Telepictures Productions, wrote in an e-mailed statement that the company has been working with the record labels for months to resolve the issue and remains willing to resolve it on "amicable and reasonable terms."

The record companies -- including Arista, Atlantic, Capitol Records, Motown, Sony Music Entertainment, Virgin Records and Warner Bros. Records -- didn't specify a particular dollar amount ... but we're guessin' it ain't gonna be cheap.



Tags: american idol, AmericanIdol, Ellen DeGeneres, judge, lawsuit

Comments [53]
SHARE |
4ie6

Relevant Posts

Reader Comments

(Page 1 of 4) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

1. Sometimes your the fly,and sometimes your the windshield

Posted at 9:15AM on Sep 11th 2009 by homie1kanobe

2. OMG, this is so stupid. They should be thanking her for advertising the music!!!!!

Posted at 9:17AM on Sep 11th 2009 by Amanda

3. Whats next, every night club in the world has to pay to play tunes?

Posted at 10:32AM on Sep 11th 2009 by Jim

4. PAY UP ELLEN!

Posted at 10:05AM on Sep 11th 2009 by JuanCarlos

5. Come on, they don't play the whole songs and all these artists are on her show promoting the music she is dancing too. What about Regis and Kelly, they play tunes when the prize wheel comes down.
Its all about the almighty buck.
I think it should be on the Peoples Court, lol. She would win.

Posted at 9:23AM on Sep 11th 2009 by tcryer3

6. Her show should countersue for advertising the music!!!! So they want a free commercial and millions from her show??? Whatever.....glad to see the governments judicial dollars are not spent on trivial bs!!!

Posted at 9:27AM on Sep 11th 2009 by Terri

7. Wait a minute...Warner Bros. Records is suing Warner Bros. Television?? They're suing themselves?? Note that when Ellen dances to a song, the title, artist, and label is shown on the screen. Guess record companies don't like that either.

Posted at 9:32AM on Sep 11th 2009 by GD

8. From the AP News story:

According to the suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Nashville, when representatives of the recording companies asked defendants why they hadn't obtained licenses to use the songs, defendants said they didn't "roll that way."

"As sophisticated consumers of music, Defendants knew full well that, regardless of the way they rolled, under the Copyright Act, and under state law for the pre-1972 recordings, they needed a license to use the sound recordings lawfully," the suit states.

They don't roll that way??? What the hell makes her so special that she doesn't have to follow the rules?

Posted at 9:33AM on Sep 11th 2009 by Me

9. What a complete joke.


Isn't it enough they are having millions of people listening to this music, hello, free advertisement? As if these record companies are not profiting from these song plays? People hear it and BUY IT stupid.

We are so sue happy in this country. The greedy record companies have a ton nerve to say the least.



EVERYONE loves Ellen ya dummies. They watch her show, they watch her dance to your music. Duh.

I hope some supposed smart lawyer pulls their head of their ass and wakes up. GGGeeeeeezzzzz.

Posted at 9:38AM on Sep 11th 2009 by Greedy Gurdies

10. Why didn't they address this issue a long time ago. Why wait so long. Sounds stupid but if they can sue a teenager for downloading music illegally then Ellen should not be immune.

Posted at 9:41AM on Sep 11th 2009 by OKEEDOKEE!!!

11. Brace yourselves Ellen fans, I see another crying pity party by her in the near future---- stay tuned!

Posted at 9:40AM on Sep 11th 2009 by same same same

12. It's TMZ's exclusive domain to only report on losers! Ever seen complimentary threads here?

Posted at 9:40AM on Sep 11th 2009 by PolarBear

13. How stupid. If I was Ellen and company I was not have any of the artists on the show either. Why help promote them when she can't even use their music.

I can see now the music company's are all about the all mighty dollar.

Posted at 9:41AM on Sep 11th 2009 by Lucy

14. VULTURES!!!! since sales are not going well, they need to get pennies from anywhere!!! Don't they think is FREAKING ADVERTISING??? I've heard songs on Ellen that I like and I go to iTunes and buy them!!! think people, think!!!

Posted at 9:48AM on Sep 11th 2009 by paul

15. Paula is playing a judge on Drop Dead Diva, on lifetime, Sunday night at 9pm. One of the lines she says is that she likes being the only judge. I'm sure she regrets her decision to leave AI.

Posted at 9:55AM on Sep 11th 2009 by Linda Mott

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.