The Senate debate on the Truth in Music Advertising bill started with the floor leader singing off-key from Sha Na Na, and wandered through history of 1950s and 1960s pop music, as the lawmakers chimed in on legislation to protect music groups from fraudulent imitators.
The discussion was hilarious, with references to The Beatles, The Temptations and Elvis Presley. But the bill is no laughing matter to musicians who are pushing to stop the performances of “totally impostor groups” who use the name of old vocal groups like the Drifters or Sha Na Na, said its sponsor, Sen. Mike Lenett, a Montgomery County Democrat.
The bill would authorize the Maryland attorney general to investigate a group, seek an injunction and then sue for civil penalties for $5,000 to $15,000.
“It does not change anything regarding anyone?s legal rights,” Lenett told the Senate. The proposed law does not affect any performing group where one of the members was part of the original groups. Nor does it outlaw parodies, satires or tributes to singers, such as the plethora of Elvis impersonators.
“Folks, there is only one Elvis,” Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said when the topic came up.
The bill is designed to protect older groups such as The Drifters, The Coasters and The Platters who paid little attention to protecting their legal rights, Lenett said. Similar bills have already passed eight other states, and “it?s already having a very good detrimental affect,” discouraging performances. He wants it pass Maryland “so they have no refuge to hide on the East Coast.”
It?s a sophisticated form of identity theft,” said Sen. John Astle, an Anne Arundel Democrat explaining the bill.
Sen. Jamie Raskin, a Montgomery County Democrat who is a constitutional law professor, asked that a vote on the bill be put off so he could have a chance to look at it.
But there was no indication that the Senate would reject the measure. “We were clear there is a problem, there is a need,” said Sen. Delores Kelley,D-Baltimore County.
