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Sex, drugs, and rock and roll are all related, especially in the many songs about drugs, including drug abuse. The major venue where this plays out is Mexican music and narcocorridos, often glorifying drogero practices.

We love the music, but increased attention is being paid to the competitive business environment of entertainment law. This Class reviews a number of business practices for singers.

Many entertainers die young and leave no will, or leave messy affairs when they die. The Class reviews several such cases, some of which have taken years to resolve.

Most movies have sound tracks, many of which are either written by or performed by rock and rollers. A number of legal issues have arisen in this arena.

With the rise of streamed music, many singers do not receive reasonable royalties for their work, in part because Congress has not dealt with the law of streaming services and the payments to rights-holders.

Even the US Supreme Court has cited rock lyrics in its opinions and arguments, and even more lower courts have done so, showing how deeply music runs in legal culture.

Touring has grown in popularity, and the intersection of law and business is clearly in evidence in the legal matters that undergird the complex tours.

There are many birthday greetings songs, but the basic bread and butter is “Happy Birthday to You,” which figured in significant litigation about when a song’s copyright expires and when it enters the public domain, no longer generating copyright royalties.

On some occasions, the issue is who wrote a song, its lyrics, and even its title. In a case against Rod Stewart and “Corrina, Corrina,” the issue was whether the song was a protected “cover,” and whether or not proper royalties were paid.

Lights, camera, action, music…and litigation. These are the new sequences in entertainment law among musicians, content producers, and the various visual arts delivery systems, which are morphing all the time, from traditional movies, various movie-related music projects, and developing technologies. This Class uses “Straight Outta Compton” as a case study.