Death And The Holograms: Celebrities Continue To Generate Revenue And Problems After Death

Is it wrong to use someone’s image following her passing? Is it wrong to capitalize on her likeness following her death?

(Photo by C Flanigan/FilmMagic/Getty Images)

Despite living in the afterworld, celebrities like Amy Winehouse, Ronald Regan, and Tupac Shakur continue to work in this world, generating millions of dollars in revenue through holographic technology. Their posthumous presence, however, gives rise to significant legal and ethical concerns including ownership of the deceased’s image, increased estate taxes, and revenue and general contract disputes.

Yuri Denisyuk of the Soviet Union and Emmeth Leith and Juris Upatnieks of the University of Michigan are credited as creating the first hologram in in 1962. Holograms are generally defined as a three-dimensional images formed by the interference of light beams from a laser or other light source. Nowadays, the dead celebrities whom we watch in concert are not technically holograms, but illusions, created by a technique known as Pepper’s Ghost.  Of course, the technology and its ownership have been the source of legal disputes.

Pepper’s Ghost was first used by English scientist John Henry Pepper in 1862. An  image is bounced onto a transparent  sheet of plastic. Lighting and other props are then used to make the image appear life-like. Computer sculpting, digital artistry, and research as to the deceased’s mannerisms are used to make the image appear life-like.

Following the 2014 Billboard Music Award performance by deceased Michael Jackson, Hologram USA filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pulse Evolution Corp., which worked on the King of Pop’s hologram. Hologram USA claimed rights over the Pepper’s Ghost technology. The case eventually settled but not without significant drama including allegations of cyber stalking and objectionable Instagram posts.

Celebrity estates have many ways of generating income following death. Auctions, merchandizing, and unreleased recordings have proven profitable for the estates of celebrities from Marilyn Monroe to Prince to Hugh Hefner. Holograms in general, wherein the deceased can actually appear in concert and interact with an onstage band and even other artists, provide new opportunities for estates and fans alike, creepiness aside.

The first time a hologram was used in a live performance was Tupac’s resurrection as a CGI figure, on April 15, 2012. The nineties rap icon joined his Death Row colleagues, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, on stage for a Coachella Valley Music and Arts performance. Nate Dogg, also dead, was supposed to appear with his West Coast friends, but wonders actually ceased and he was otherwise engaged. The cost of producing Tupac’s 2012 hologram was estimated between $100,000 and $400,000. Dr. Dre asked permission from Afeni Shakur, Tupac’s mother and the personal representative of his estate, to use Tupac’s image at the concert. Afeni Shakur happily agreed and monies were paid for Tupac’s image’s use to his charitable foundation.

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Questions and considerations abound concerning the legal use of holograms as they definitionally constitute the likeness of the deceased. Many states have specifically addressed the issue and have laws authorizing only the deceased’s estate with the control over the commercial use of the deceased’s image and likeness.

Currently, Roy Orbison, famous for his hit “Pretty Woman,” is on tour, in hologram form. The concert series arose not without controversy as Orbison’s estate, headed by his son, commenced a lawsuit in late 2017 against Hologram USA for breach of contract, as the estate’s requested hologram of their father was not delivered within nine months, as the contract specified. The estate then signed a new deal with BASE Holograms and the result is “In Dreams: Roy Orbison in Concert,” a 65-minute show, featuring 16 songs and orchestral accompaniment.

BASE Holograms also has just announced together with the Estate of Amy Winehouse, a 2019 concert tour.  The concerts will feature digitally remastered arrangements of Winehouse’s songs and she — or rather, her hologram — will sing, backed by a live band and singers. Fans are dying to see the performance.

Of course, in addition to the legal issues surrounding holograms of dead celebrities, fans and families may be plagued by ethical and moral concerns. Is it wrong to use someone’s image following her passing? Is it wrong to capitalize on her likeness following her death? Are holographic concerts just too creepy?

Like everything in life (and death), there is a balance to be sought. In 1991, Natalie Cole sang “Unforgettable,” one of the first “virtual duets,” with her father, Nat King Cole, who had died several years prior. The recording, produced by David Foster, was ground-breaking and critically and financially acclaimed, heralded as a beautiful tribute from a daughter to a father. On the contrary, Kenny G.’s 1999 performance of “What a Wonderful World” with deceased Louis Armstrong, was not celebrated. Jazz musician Pat Metheny captured many fans and artists’ reactions, calling it “musical necrophilia.”

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Cori A. Robinson is a solo practitioner having founded Cori A. Robinson PLLC, a New York and New Jersey law firm, in 2017. For more than a decade Cori has focused her law practice on trusts and estates and elder law including estate and Medicaid planning, probate and administration, estate litigation, and guardianships. She can be reached at cori@robinsonestatelaw.com