Gerommel in Zappa-land:
In recent weeks, the Zappa Family Trust has taken legal action against killuglyradio, a Frank Zappa fansite, as well as a bunch of Zappa tribute bands (Project/Object, Bogus Pomp) and the Zappanale festival
Even if you’re not much of an FZ fan, the topic at hand may be of interest to you as it’s all about fair use versus copyright and mechanical licenses (bless the internet for there is now an expression for this type of behaviour as I’m sure you know: “to pull a Prince” -
http://princefansunited.com).
In the case of Kill Ugly Radio, the webmaster had to remove long-out-of-print interview transcripts, Zappa quotes, even tiny little 100×100px thumbnails of Zappa album artwork in the discography section. The very mention of the name “Frank Zappa” has come under dispute! Tribute bands such as Project/Object, Bogus Pomp and Sheik Yerbouti have all received last-minute phonecalls from Gail Zappa ordering them to cancel gigs (we’re talking little hole-in-the-wall type establishments such as Winchester, Cleveland, Ohio here).
Further more, “Zappanale”, a Zappa festival in Germany which has in the past featured many Zappa alumni, organized by the Arf Society is now under attack as well.
It would appear that Gail Zappa (under the legal guise of the “ZFT”) is effectively trying to kill off any unofficial website, tribute band, or festival — the argument being that they are all in one way or another harmful to their business; when all they have ever attempted to do is to promote and keep the music of Frank Zappa alive. The crux of the biscuit is this: if she succeeds, Gail Zappa will have introduced a precedent — one which might well affect any other fan site out there, be they Zappa related or not.