Presidential candidate Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro is caught between a copyright dispute for the song "Posible," used in his TV commercial that started airing early this month.
Two camps are claiming ownership of the song. On one hand, there's former Rivermaya front man Rico Blanco and his record label Warner Music. Blanco and another composer wrote "Posible" for the Southeast Asian Games, which was held in the Philippines in 2005.
Lizza Nakpil, on the other hand, the former manager of Rivermaya, registered the song September last year with Copyright Office of The National Library.
Rivermaya and Nakpil have been involved in a bitter dispute since October last year. Mark Escueta, Rivermaya's drummer, told PEP in an e-mail that their former manager is "killing their career" by claiming exclusive rights to own the name "Rivermaya." (CLICK HERE to read related story.)
In a separate interview, Nakpil asserted her ownership of the band name, saying she "created Rivermaya." (CLICK HERE to read related story.)
Lastly, Blanco told several music magazines that he could not comment on the band name ownership issue because "he's not affiliated with Rivermaya anymore." He left the band on May 2007 without giving any clear reason. (CLICK HERE to read related story.)
Blanco started his solo career with Warner Music on June 2008.
RICO CRIES FOUL. On January 5, a short post in Rico Blanco's Twitter account started one of the first controversies in Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro's presidential candidacy. (CLICK HERE to read Teodoro's candidate profile.)
"i'm itching to tweet about this VERY STRANGE intellectual property issue that came to my attention just last night," said Rico at http://twitter.com/1ricoblanco. According to the former Rivermaya front man, the former Defense Secretary breached copyright laws when he used the song "Posible" in his campaign ad on television.
The TV spot, which started airing early this month, features "Posible," but with the lyrics changed. The 30-second commercial changed the original lyrics "Sulong, Laban" to "Sulong, Gibo!"
In his successive Twitter posts, Rico said the presidential candidate did not get his permission to turn the song into a campaign jingle. He also said the jingle "copied" his singing voice, thereby hinting that he was endorsing Gibo.
"i'd like to understand how can a presidentiable can overlook a simple matter such as intellectual property. command responsibility," Blanco said in his Twitter post.
He admitted, however, that he may have agreed to endorse Teodoro had his camp asked for his permission to use the song he composed. The singer said the administration bet was one of the two candidates he's thinking of voting for the May 2010 elections.
But he added that he did not know how a "smart" candidate could overlook property rights.
"i don't have an explanation even in my imagination but i'd still like to give him benefit of the doubt til we get all the details to be fair," he said.
quot;PEP called the Copyright Office today, December 11, to confirm the document's authenticity. Copyright Examiner Michelle Flor said over the phone that the document posted online matches their records.quot;
Admit to your mistakes before you lose te 5 percent of voters who trust you.
Hiring foreign-based pinoy musician, Dennis Garcia to handle the campaign song, he wo does not know what is going on in the local music scene.
Approving of Garcia's choice Posible without doing a background check - the song whose real ownership is pending in court.
Instead of hiring the original artist and composer, they paid the false owner of copyright and let the copycat sing it for a cheaper price.
After hearing Rico air his side, they let Dennis Garcia handle the damage control, big mistake. This is a legal issue, not just song arrangement or lyrical melody.
Some advertisers use music to send their good messages so people can identify themselves with the product they sell. What message are you sending for choosing a controversial song and deny any wrongdoings when the singer composer cries foul? Instead of getting more votes, you got more troubles for making simple mistakes. Blaming others o
A manager lang yan a.. the artist and the real talent are the singers/composers.
Kakaloka naman na binigyan sya ng legal rights to it. Ano ba yan!
Mukhang Villar vs NoyNoy na labanan.
I do not beleive that dennis garcia knows nothing about the rift between the former hag manager and rico blanco-river maya. Lumulusot lang yan dahil nabuta at mas kaibigan niya si nakpil.
isa pang dapa i-persecute ay itong gov't. agency na nag-issue ng rights to the witch...ano ba yan???!!! anong klase kayo...basta bayad ang FEE hindi ninyo na isi-isip kung kanino talaga at sino ang gumawa, ng kanta??!!
Ay, may conspiracy theory na. Ang galing mo naman!
Si Garcia nagagalit pa sa composer? hus ko kung manalo si Bigo as President ano pa kaya ang apog nito ?
Kulilat na nga sa survey controvercial pa. mga Bopol di man lang na isip bago mag react ,. Si Edu pa naman ang vice? e yung binili nilang composition eh pinirata hahahahah
what a joke!
If you want to launch a good campaign, stay as far away from controversies like simple ownership of copyright. There are lots of good Filipino songs out there, why pick the one in dipute?
Is is cheaper or should I say, is it worth it really?
Do yourselves a favor and admit the mistake. This would show your sincerity and reflect transparency instead of asking the artist to apologize for your stupidity.
If you want to launch a good campaign, stay as far away from controversies like simple ownership of copyright. There are lots of good Filipino songs out there, why pick the one in dipute?
Is is cheaper or should I say, is it worth it really?
Do yourselves a favor and admit the mistake. This would show your sincerity and reflect transparency instead of asking the artist to apologize for your stupidity.
You can disagree with me all you want but it still doesn't cange the fact that Rico Blanco sang and composed that song. The least they could do is ask for his permission.
What they did instead was paid the former manager who was erronously granted coplyright by national library. They also changed the lyrics and hired someone to sing it like he did to make it appear Rico's endorsing him.
This to me is done in bad taste and does not reflect well on his campaign. They should have acknowledged their mistake for not knowing the song's ownership is still under dispute.
How can the real owner of the song be the harrasser when his craft is being used without his permission?