Do lawyers have a sense of rhythm? Perhaps not always, but that doesn’t stop the history of music from following the tempo of the legal world. Law and justice have shaped the lives of black musicians, helping to write the myths of our time. In-fighting between artists, impresarios and labels, front-page news stories, drug and sex scandals… Blues, soul, jazz and rap are not exempt from scandal. Fabrice Epstein recounts the almost incestuous relationship between music and the law, from small deals to major trials, tracing the cases that have involved Mickaël Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Jay-Z, Bob Marley, MC Solar, Orelsan, Miles Davis, Tina Turner, Serge Gainsbourg and many others.
Divided into nine chapters, each dealing with a different legal theme, from plagiarism and inheritance to murder and imaginary lawsuits, this book is a mine of information on the less-than-virtuous world of music.