Harry Warren: Last News

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Warner Chappell Music publishing has unveiled an original podcast series called “Setting the Standard: Stories from the Great American Songbook,” in partnership with Bang/Audiation – the team behind WCM’s podcast “Final Sessions: Harry Nilsson’s Losst and Founnd.” The new podcast will “weave together story and song into a tapestry of American cultural history for songwriters, historians, musicians, artists, and fans alike,” according to the announcement. Launching on October 25th, “Setting the Standard” will feature eight episodes – each on a different legendary songwriter – starting with three-time Oscar-winning and pioneering film composer Harry Warren. Additional episodes will roll out throughout the year and spotlight composers and songwriters including Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Jule Styne, and more. Using historical sources and new discussions with scholars, critics, artists, and family members, the series will tell the stories of their lives and highlight their most iconic songs. It will also feature exclusive interviews from artists like Billy Corgan and Michael Feinstein, and top songwriters such as Justin Tranter.

The Californian judge overseeing a legal battle between Apple and the estates of Harold Arlen, Ray Henderson and Harry Warren said earlier this week that he’s not inclined to grant either side in the dispute the summary judgements they had requested, meaning all elements of the case could go before a jury.Apple was hoping to persuade the judge to remove the specific claims of wilful copyright infringement that have been made against it, the ‘wilful’ bit usually significantly increasing any damages that may be awarded down the line.The tech giant argued that it was at least one step removed from any alleged infringement, and that it was impractical for it to check whether every label and distributor it has deals with in the US has correctly licensed the song rights contained in their recordings.It also accused the three estates of choosing to go straight to litigation over the alleged copyright infringement because that way there could be decent damages for their lawyers to share in. However, the judge said that he felt there was probably enough factual disputes in this case to require jury deliberations, even on the wilful infringement claim.This legal action was originally instigated by the estate of Arlen, who wrote ‘Over The Rainbow’, ‘I’ve Got The World On A String’ and ‘Get Happy’, among many other famous works.