At nightclubs and festivals around the world, dance music is all about good times. But behind the scenes of this increasingly lucrative and competitive sector of the music business lie the same kinds of disputes over trademarks and exploitation rights that plague any industry.
On Friday, two of the genre's leading companies, both named Ultra - Ultra Music, a record label, and Ultra Music Festival, an annual live event - announced a “global alliance.†Details were scant other than that Ultra, the label, would release CDs and DVDs from Ultra, the festival, though the deal implies a partnership of independents at a time when electronic dance music, or E.D.M., is attracting new corporate investment.
Russell Faibisch, the president of the festival, said in a statement that while electronic dance music “seems to be the flavor of the month for many corporations buying their way into our scene, building this long-term stra tegic alliance with Patrick Moxey and Ultra Music sets the stage for establishing Ultra as the essential global lifestyle brand for the best of everything E.D.M. has to offer.â€
But another, more prosaic factor in the deal appears to be the resolution of a long-running dispute over the Ultra name.
The Ultra label first sued the festival over trademark infringement in 2003, and the parties settled a year later. In 2010, the label sued again, accusing the festival of violating the earlier settlement agreement. According to court documents, that agreement said that if Ultra Music Festival expanded beyond its origins in Miami, it would collaborate on it with the Ultra label. The festival is now held in Brazil, Argentina, Korea and several other countries.
An unsigned copy of a new settlement, filed with the court on Aug. 2, says that the two Ultras would abide by the terms of the earlier agreement.
Both Ultras, which are represented by the same publicity firm, declined to comment on the suit.
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