"“Since 2021, the parties involved have been officially notified that they do not possess Billy Joel's life rights and will not be able to secure the music rights required for this project. Billy Joel has not authorized or supported this project in any capacity, and any attempt to move forward without it would be both legally and professionally misguided.”"
"Billy & Me is told from the point of view of Irwin Mazur, Joel's first manager, as the Ottman film has secured the exclusive life rights for both him as well as Joel collaborator Jon Small."
"Biopics have moved forward without actually having the rights to the music of the artists involved - as one example, Sofia Coppola's Priscilla was able to elude to Elvis Presley's discography without any of his most famous songs. It's still a big obstacle, however, and the reason why most biopics are made with the cooperation of the artist's estate."
A Billy Joel biopic titled Billy & Me is being developed with direction by Michael and editing by John Ottman. Joel’s representative states that since 2021 the involved parties were notified they do not possess Billy Joel’s life rights and cannot secure the music rights needed for the project. The statement says Billy Joel has not authorized or supported the project in any capacity, and moving forward without authorization would be legally and professionally misguided. The film is reportedly told from Irwin Mazur’s point of view, with exclusive life rights secured for Mazur and collaborator Jon Small. Music rights remain a major obstacle for biopics, even when they avoid using famous songs.
Read at Consequence
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]