Dave Gunning has raised the ire of the Canadian Mint for using a photographic depiction of pennies on the cover of his newest album, an ode to the soon-to-be-extinct penny, No More Pennies, to be released September 18. The Mint considers it a copyright infringement as it's for profit and to be fair, Gunning sure did use pictures of pennies all over the damn place.
"The image on the front cover of the CD is of a person sitting at a lunch counter trying to scrape up enough change to pay for his cup of coffee." says Gunning in a press release. "We've created sentimental images as a way of saying goodbye to Canada's penny. On the back cover is a sunset with the sun as a penny setting below the horizon. On the inside of the package is a lithograph image of an old steam train, which is another important part of our Canadian heritage. The wheels of the train are little pennies.”
Is this really a thing the Mint intends to pursue? Well, eventually. As reported in yesterday's issue of The Star, a communications manager for the Mint who is doing a really great job said:
“We have helped this guy out by giving him a break,” Alex Reeves, communications manager for the Royal Canadian Mint, said Tuesday.
"This guy"? Come on, Alex.
So they won't be charging him the $1,200 in royalty fees for his first pressing of 2,000 cds, but for his next run, they might not be so kind.
Gunning is making lemonade out of the little copper-coloured lemons by asking fans to bring pennies to his concerts to cover the $1,200 cost of the next pressing, and says he will personally donate $1,200 to the IWK just because he's a nice dude.