Village People frontman fights for his (copy)right

Victor Willis, the lead singer of the Village People, is being backed by the Songwriter Guild of America in his battle to regain control over his share of the copyright credit for dozens of the band’s songs.

In April, Willis filed court papers to secure credit for 32 of the Village People’s songs –  including the hit “Y.M.C.A.” – based on a rarely cited 1978 revision to copyright law that enables “termination rights” for artists, meaning they can reclaim copyright grants 35 years after a song is published. Willis filed against Scorpio Music and Can't Stop Productions, who have refuted him by maintaining that they hired the frontman on a work-for-hire basis and that he never owned the songs.

Willis is not the first songwriter to request control of his prior work: Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty are also currently seeking ownership of past music, as well. However, the fact that Willis was employed by a publishing company at the time of writing does differentiate his case from those of independent artists, and will quite possibly set the standard for all hired songwriters to come.