Deep Purple Fined for “Illegally” Playing Their Own Songs
7/3/2009 By Keith Carman

What the hell is wrong with classic rock outfit Deep Purple? You think they'd have more sense than to rip someone off after so many years in the industry.

Oh wait, turns out they just ripped themselves off. That's the situation according to Russia Today, which reports that a Russian court has fined the British rockers for — get this— “illegally” performing their own songs.

Yes, that's right: when the band played a concert in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on October 19, 2008, they did so without gaining proper permission to play the tracks they'd selected. We know what you're asking: “Who the fuck did they have to ask about playing their own songs?”

Well, there's an organization called the NGO, “Russian Authors' Society,” which issues licences to publicly perform songs. This organization represents the rights of foreign performers in Russia, whether or not the performers give the NGO permission to represent them.

Therefore, the NGO took it upon itself to bring the issue of a band playing songs live that they didn't obtain permission for, regardless of who was writing and/or playing 'em. If we here at Exclaim! are to understand this correctly, that means Deep Purple will have to pay royalties for the tunes to themselves — no doubt with a big cut going to the NGO, that is.

No statement has come from the band as of yet.
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