Frank Peterson

Not to be confused withFrank Petersen.

This article is about the German music producer. For the English footballer, seeFrank Peterson (footballer).

Frank Peterson(born 29 December 1963) is a German music producer known for his work withEnigmaand artists such asSarah Brightman,Ofra Haza,Gregorian,Princessa,andAndrea Bocellion his first international album,Romanza.

Peterson was born inHamburg.As a child, he taught himself to play the piano and keyboard, going on to work in a music store. It was here that he metMichael Cretuand became lead keyboardist forSandra,appearing prominently on her hit single "Maria Magdalena".

He was a member of Sandra's band for a few more years, then moved with the Cretus toIbiza.While there, he became involved with Cretu's new project,Enigma,under the pseudonym ofF. Gregorian.Peterson contributed to their first album,MCMXC a.D.,writing several tracks.

He left the group in 1991 and pursued work onGregorian,a musical project co-founded by Thomas Schwarz and Matthias Meissner. The female vocals for this album were provided by The Sisters of Oz—a duo composed of Birgit Freud and Susana Espelleta, who was married to Peterson at the time. Soon after, he met EnglishsopranoSarah Brightmanand collaborated with her on her solo albumsDivethroughSymphony.

Gregorian was re-invented later on in Peterson's career as a group performingGregorian chantarrangements of popular songs. Peterson's inspiration, as he stated in an interview, was the approaching newmillenniumand its spiritual aspect.

In 1997, Peterson collaborated with Israeli singerOfra Haza,producing her final studio album,Ofra Haza,that same year.

Other artists whom Peterson has worked with includePrincessa,Carolin Fortenbacher,Violet, and Sinsual.

Lawsuit against Google/YouTube

On 16 April 2009,Billboardreported that Peterson had filed a lawsuit at the Higher District Court in Hamburg against Google/YouTube,claiming that his music videos and other audiovisual repertoire were used illegally. In his lawsuit, Peterson claimed infringement of his copyrights and master rights.He stated that more than 125 million streams of his productions—for which he owns the copyrights and master rights as author, publisher, and producer—had been viewed, for which he never received payment from Google/YouTube.

In theBillboardinterview, Jens Schippmann, senior partner of the law firm Kamin & Wilke representing Peterson, claimed the lawsuit was necessary because Peterson never granted any synchronization rights and adaptation rights to GEMA as part of his membership agreement: "The German legal situation is different to the Anglo-American copyright law because in Germany, the copyright itself will always remain with the author and exploitation rights granted do not exclude the author from any decision regarding synchronization and adaptation because of the author's moral right".Schippmann added, "My client did not assign any synchronization or adaptation rights to Google/YouTube and is therefore entitled to demand [they] cease and desist such usage [and] negotiate about demanding appropriate remuneration".

Lutz Melzer, junior partner at the firm, said: "The lawsuit includes our demand for injunction, for information, and accounting about the figures of the usage and the turnover, especially from advertising. In addition, we demand for a court decision that any damages incurred by such exploitation have to be reimbursed by Google/YouTube. So far, we cannot exactly compute the amount of such damages without additional information from YouTube, but it seems that the damages will exceed a few million [U.S.] dollars solely in the Peterson case".

External links

• Nemo Studio
• Gregorian Music – Frank Peterson bio
• Frank PetersonatIMDb