Dr Dre will not have a Diamond called DIAMOND Dre, Perhaps a Cognac Dre!

It has been a while since I last heard about Dr DRE's Cognac named 'Aftermath'. I suppose Dr DRE could call his cognac 'Cognac DRE' or DRE Cognac if he wanted to but DRE will not be able to call his diamonds DREDIAMOND or DIAMONDDRE as this name has been already registered by another Hip-Hop music producer Drew Reyes, also known as “DiamondDRE”.

Dr Dre by Commondr3ads at Wikimedia Commons

Dr. Dre has asked music producer Drew Reyes, also known as “DiamondDRE,” to cease and desist using “Dre” because of potential confusion for consumers who may wonder: "is it DRE as Dr DRE?".

An attorney representing Dr. Dre, whose legal name is Andre Young, recently sent a letter to Reyes asking him to not emphasize the “DRE” at the end of his name, but “to always present his mark – both online and in the brick and mortar world – as Diamonddre or DIAMONDDRE." The attorney emphasized that they werelooking at resolving this issue amicably among fellow musicians.

Reyes said in an interview with AllHipHop.com that “I REFUSE to let any person, regardless of whom they are or their status, to bully me; I don’t know if it’s because of some apprehensive complex you [Dr. Dre] may have, whether it’s cause you’re afraid another artist named ‘DRE’ may outshine you or become fans of another artist’s work besides your own. But I will tell you this…my name is DiamondDRE”.

Reyes attorney, Theresa V. Johnson,  responded to Dr. Dre’s letter as such: “We respectfully ask that you leave Mr. Reyes alone as his business venture is in no way a threat to ‘the world-famous music producer, rapper and musical entertainer Andre Young.’”

Source: blog.legalzoom.com

Should Legislation Forbid Liquor-Related Messages in Lyrics?

Music industry and musicians are not making as much money as before because the music industry as significant changed since loosing revenues from selling records because of illegal downloading and sharing. So musicians are increasing their ties with branded goods. This phenomenon has significantly last June 2011 when the Majors (meaning the big production companies) decided to recover expenses from deals musicians used to be making directly from product placements and such. Hence, the current high level of appearances of big alcoholic brands in popular music is a consequence of strengthening ties between the alcohol companies and music industries. So much that a large number of celebrities have now launched their own brand of spirits. Nobody has been able to download a vodka yet and these businessmen/musicians are encouraged to find other streams of revenues. According to a recent study teens hear 34 liquor brands message a day in rap and hip-hop music since they listen to music on average 2 1/2 hours per day. The problem is that adolescent are increasingly having problems with abuse and addiction of alcoholic beverages and the lyrics from these songs may appear like underage advertising and share some responsibility with alcoholic related issues with teens.

see FOX NEWS for more details: http://tinyurl.com/3f5d22n
see ABC NEWS for more details: http://tinyurl.com/3ruvwnt

I hope the music industry takes a position on this matter before it is taken by legislation.