Snow (musician) - Legal Dispute Over Production of 12 Inches of Snow

Legal Dispute Over Production of 12 Inches of Snow

While touring as Snow's DJ in December 1994, Marvin Prince abruptly left the tour after discovering Snow, according to court documents, "was receiving more money from management than he was." While listed as only the co-writer of the song Runway on the 12 Inches of Snow album, Prince claimed to have co-written five songs and co-produced the album with Shan, Eng, and Salem. Furthermore, Prince alleged in court that Eng and Salem provided "a draft of a multi-album production and recording agreement" for both Snow and himself. Unable to understand the contract, Prince allegedly "sent a copy to his mother to get legal advice from her friend" and "never saw the agreement again." Moreover, Prince claimed to have entered an "oral agreement" with Snow implying that the two would share profits from the album "fifty-fifty." The first agreement, Prince alleged, occurred "in 1990, when the two men began working together on songs in Prince's basement and he "allegedly suggested to" Snow, "if something comes out of this, let's be partners." The second oral agreement, according to Prince, took place in August 1991 while Snow auditioned for Shan. While Snow frequently referred to Prince as his partner in promotional videos, he claimed to have used the term "only in the slang sense." Prince, moreover, "admitted that these discussions were not concrete; the parties never organized a formal business plan, nor was plaintiff in New York to advance defendant's career."

Shan, Eng, and Salem testified that they were unaware of a partnership between Snow and Prince, and Shan denied that Prince co-produced 12 Inches of Snow and co-wrote the five songs in question. While initially winning a $1.5 million judgment, the court overturned the original ruling and dismissed Prince's suit on grounds that he had "no viable claims" to a partnership with Snow.

Read more about this topic:  Snow (musician)

Famous quotes containing the words legal, dispute, production and/or inches:

    Hawkins: The will is not exactly in proper legal phraseology. Richard: No: my father died without the consolations of the law.
    George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

    The king said, -Divide the living boy in two; then give half to the one, and half to the other. But the woman whose son was alive said to the king -because compassion for her son burned within her - -Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him! The other said, -It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it. Then the king responded: -Give the first woman the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.
    Bible: Hebrew, 1 Kings. 3:25-37.

    Solomon resolves a dispute between two women over a child. Solomon’s wisdom was proven by this story.

    It is part of the educator’s responsibility to see equally to two things: First, that the problem grows out of the conditions of the experience being had in the present, and that it is within the range of the capacity of students; and, secondly, that it is such that it arouses in the learner an active quest for information and for production of new ideas. The new facts and new ideas thus obtained become the ground for further experiences in which new problems are presented.
    John Dewey (1859–1952)

    No imperfection in budded mountain,
    Valleys breathe, heaven and earth move together,
    daisies push inches of yellow air, vegetables tremble,
    green atoms shimmer in grassy mandalas,
    sheep speckle the mountainside, revolving their jaws with empty eyes,
    horses dance in the warm rain,
    Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)