Bruce Springsteen is the boss of his own music—and a man of the people.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is demanding that his name be removed from a lawsuit filed by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers against a New York bar where a band performed a few Springsteen songs.
ASCAP says Connolly's Pub & Restaurant should have forked over a $2,700 licensing fee and it went ahead and listed the Boss as a fellow plaintiff.
But Springsteen believes that musicians like him are born to jam freely.
"Bruce Springsteen had no knowledge of this lawsuit, was not asked if he would participate as a named plaintiff, and would not have agreed to do so if he had been asked," his reps at Shore Fire Media said in a statement to the New York Daily News.
A rep for ASCAP, which filed suit Wednesday in Manhattan Federal Court, said that it is just trying to protect the copyrights held by all songwriters.
Hence its complaint that Connolly's, which charges a cover and therefore profits from the music played there, didn't pay the annual ASCAP fee of $2,700.
Yeah, we'd rather have Springsteen on our side, too.
________
The Boss was just one of dozens of stars who turned out for the multinetwork Hope for Haiti Now telethon, which raised more than $61 million for earthquake relief.