Eagles sue fan who showed bootleg concert footage

The Eagles are suing a man who they say charged fans to watch bootleg footage of the band in concert.

According to the New York Daily News (via Rolling Stone) Don Henley and Glenn Frey say New York man William Shelley was asked to stop showing the concert footage at a cinema in Connecticut, USA – but he failed to do so.

Now they are suing him for violating copyright. In a case filed at Brooklyn Federal Court, The Eagles say they are trying to reclaim the footage along with his entire archive which includes film of performances by Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones, among others.

Shelley allegedly started filming concerts in the 1970s. The Eagles accuse him of trying to “bolster his reputation as a purported music industry ‘insider’ with close connections and ties to many classic rock greats.” He is also accused of profiting from the screenings.

His archive is said to contain more than 100,000 reels of 35mm and 16mm film containing more than 10,000 hours of rare concert footage and television shows.

Earlier this year, drummer Henley slammed Frank Ocean for sampling The Eagles’ Hotel California without permission and denied Okkervil River permission to cover his solo track The End Of Innocence and releasing it as a free download.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.