JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?

David,

Actually no. There is NO BASIS for a lawsuit and to suggest that there IS a basis is to damage someone because you want to speculate on something you're wrong about, and for what exactly? To punish them because you don't like something they are doing? For the record, you can FILE a lawsuit with or without a good reason. So in that respect, EVERYONE can be sued at any time if someone wants to spend the money to file a lawsuit. But they don't all have merit. Neither would this one.

If there was an ENTRY fee, then everything would be different. But there isn't. If there was evidence of intentional fraud being committed by the people running it, it would be reason to get upset, but there isn't. If a song, in YOUR opinion, is out of genre, you can flag it as such. There's a system for that. And if the people watching those flags decides enough people agree and that they ALSO agree based on their own internal definition and guidelines, then they move it. If they disagree, or if not enough people have complained, or if they just haven't gotten to it yet, or if they decide that moving it somewhere else simply moves the problem and doesn't solve it (i.e. it still wouldn't fit in many other categories either) then it's not up to you to threaten that because they don't do exactly what you expect or want, they've opened themselves up to a class action lawsuit.

By suggesting that is to cast aspersions on them. That doesn't help anyone. It suggests that "Gosh.. these guys, in David's opinion, might have done something to justify a class action lawsuit against them." That makes a casual reader think "gosh.. people might be suing these people.. we shouldn't get involved then."

You're wrong. If someone came here and said "I think David's actions might have set him up for being charged with a crime or sued" when you'd done nothing wrong, I'd defend you just as vehemently. You're able to say what you want just as I am able to strongly refute what you said. I am choosing to do it because it's rubbish.

If 1 person hears that song and thinks "yeah, I'd put it in that category" then all your arguments are pointless. It's a matter of opinion, and someone could certainly make an argument that any song that mentions a religious figure might best fit in a category that had other religious music. All sorts of things offends all sorts of people. I learned that the hard way when I learned the saga and ill will between Messianic Jews and Jews. Some Jews made it clear to me that they don't care for the other. Messianic Jews are sometimes known as Jews for Jesus. And when dealing with music made by Messianic Jews, even though the subject matter lyrically seems in all ways to support the Jewish religion, non Messianic Jews are sometimes deeply offended by it. But, in our opinion, there wasn't a better place to put those songs. It caused all sorts of angry responses and ill will but in the end, we had to leave that music in that category. In hindsight, I understand even better the nuances of things like that. And it's impossible to please all sides. But to suggest that just because YOU or someone else thinks a song is better suited for a different genre that the people at Ourstage (or JPF in our awards for that matter) would be risking a class action lawsuit unless they did what you (or someone else who disageed) agreed with is rattling a sabre and making a threat against someone's honesty and reputation, on the theory that they are doing something so wrong that they may face legal actions. They aren't doing anything wrong. Give it a rest.

That song could stay. It could eventually be moved. It may already be in discussions on whether or not to move it. They may not even have checked it out yet because not enough people have flagged it to come up on their radar. They may agree with you 100% or they may disagree with you 100%. But in none of those scenarios are they doing anything deserving of or worthy of a lawsuit. And even though anyone can be sued by anyone wanting to file a lawsuit, it doesn't mean that it's appropriate to raise a warning flag that if someone doesn't do a certain thing, they'll be open to a meaningless lawsuit. So stop it.

Brian