Optimo Music Receive Cease and Desist From Sony Over Post-Punk Compilation

This month, the Glasgow-based label Optimo Music were set to release Now That’s What I Call DIY! (Cult Classics From the Post-Punk Era 1978-82). As Resident Advisor points out, the label reportedly received a cease and desist from Sony, who argued that the comp’s title infringed on Sony’s long-running compilation series Now That’s What I Call Music!. 

“I couldn’t reach agreement with Sony to modify the existing sleeves that was either satisfactory to them or cost effective to me, so the original sleeves will be destroyed,” said Optimo Music’s JD Twitch. He noted that the debacle has cost him “several thousand pounds.”

“While the whole thing has been a nightmare and extremely annoying, really, the only person I am angry with is myself for not even considering it might be an issue. I totally appreciate that Sony are perfectly entitled to vigorously pursue copyright infringement.”

The compilation, now titled [Cease and Desist] DIY! (Cult Classics From the Post-Punk Era 1978-82), is out October 30. Listen to excerpts from the compilation above; find the tracklist below.

[Cease and Desist] DIY! (Cult Classics From the Post-Punk Era 1978-82):

01 Tesco Bombers: Break the Ice at Parties 
02 Sara Goes Pop: Sexy Terrorist 
03 People in Control: When It’s War 
04 Nancy Sesay & the Melodaires: C’est Fab 
05 The Distributors: TV Me 
06 Dorothy: Softness 
07 Thomas Leer: Private Plane 
08 Visitors: Electric Heat 
09 The Murphy Federation: Fed Up Skank 
10 The Distributors: Never Never 
11 The Cro-tones: Tea Machine Dub 
12 Fatal Microbes: Violence Grows 
13 The Spunky Onions: How I Lost My Virginity 
14 The Fakes: Look Out 
15 The 012: Meltdown Situation 
16 The Prats: Disco Pope 

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