What do you do if you’re making a movie about a famous dead musician, and you can’t get the rights to his music? Use other people’s songs.  That seems to be what has happened in the case of “All Is by My Side,” a biopic about Jimi Hendrix whose music has been the subject of some intrigue in the entertainment industry. The film stars André Benjamin of OutKast as Hendrix in 1966 and 1967, just before he became famous, and it is being shot in Ireland.  In May the Hendrix estate, which controls his music, issued a statement that seemed to jeopardize the project, saying that “no such film, were it to include original music or copyrights created by Jimi Hendrix, can be undertaken” without the estate’s approval. How could a Hendrix movie exist without his music?  But on Tuesday, Rolling Stone reported that the filmmakers had skirted the issue. Instead of using famous songs that Hendrix wrote — like “Purple Haze” or “Fire” — the film will portray Hendrix performing cover versions of songs by the Beatles (“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”), Muddy Waters (“Mannish Boy”), the Troggs (“Wild Thing”) and Elmore James (“Bleeding Heart”).  Mr. Benjamin will sing the songs, which were recorded by top session musicians, including the guitarist Waddy Wachtel, the bassist Leland Sklar and the drummer Kenny Aronoff.  According to Rolling Stone, the Hendrix estate said it had no idea that the film would include other people’s music. “They want to make a Jimi Hendrix movie without Jimi Hendrix music,” a representative of the estate told the magazine. “It would be like making a movie about Lincoln without being able to use the Gettysburg Address.”  To use a song in a movie, its producers generally lead a license from the song’s publisher (and if using an original recording, they also need to go to a record company), and music licensing issues have held up plenty of film productions. Recently a documentary about the Wrecking Crew, the group of Los Angeles session musicians who played in innumerable hit songs, has been delayed because the producers could not afford the licensing costs.
A Jimi Hendrix biopic will use songs by the Beatles and Muddy Waters but not by Hendrix because his estate said that no film could use his music without its approval.