{"id":631625,"date":"2026-09-21T17:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T17:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/631625\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T17:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T17:52:14","slug":"the-band-cannot-invoke-brents-identity-when-it-is-commercially-useful-while-denying-the-continuing-relevance-of-his-contributions-brent-hinds-estate-makes-stateme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/631625\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe band cannot invoke Brent\u2019s identity when it is commercially useful, while denying the continuing relevance of his contributions\u201d: Brent Hinds\u2019 estate makes statement amid ongoing Mastodon lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, it was revealed that the estate of late Mastodon<\/a> guitarist Brent Hinds<\/a> was suing his former bandmates<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their claim revolved around the assertion that Hinds\u2019 commercial interests in the band had not been officially separated from its remaining members prior to his tragic death in August last year, just months after he had exited the group. It also mentioned the use of Hinds\u2019 likeness on the cover of their latest studio album, Marrow Deep.<\/p>\n

Shortly afterwards, Mastodon issued a public statement in response<\/a> to the lawsuit, writing: \u201cWe will vigorously defend what we believe is a meritless lawsuit,\u201d before vowing to do so in private, so as not to taint \u201cBrent\u2019s memory or the legacy of his musical gifts\u201d.<\/p>\n

Now, Hinds\u2019 estate has given a followup statement clarifying its position and why it chose to file the lawsuit in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately , public discussion has largely focused on Mastodon\u2019s inclusion of Brent\u2019s image in artwork for a new album and has sometimes portrayed the lawsuit as an effort by his family to obtain a windfall,\u201d the statement reads [via Guitar World<\/a>]. \u201cThat is not what the case is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

It continues: \u201cAfter Brent was excluded from Mastodon, he sought an accounting, valuation, and orderly separation of interests he held in entities owned by the founding members. He passed away before that process was finished\u2026 Brent had not yet received any compensation for any of his interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Hinds\u2019 estate highlights that much of the online discourse surrounding the lawsuit pertains to the use of his image on the cover of the band\u2019s new album, it clarifies that this is just a small part of its claim. The estate says it \u201cillustrates a broader commercial issue related to merchandising revenues\u201d, adding: \u201cSpecifically, it relates to whether Brent\u2019s exclusion from the band discontinued his, and now his Estate\u2019s entitlement to share in Mastodon\u2019s merchandising revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe remaining members maintain that Brent did not participate in Mastodon\u2019s new album, yet the band chose to use a recognisable image of him to market that album and did so without the estate\u2019s consent. This illustrates that Brent remains relevant to Mastodon\u2019s brand even after his exclusion and death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hinds estate says \u201cthe band cannot fairly invoke Brent\u2019s identity when it is commercially useful, while simultaneously denying the continuing relevance of his contributions when accounting for his interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement concludes by saying the estate is not requesting \u201canyone to choose sides or diminish what Brent and his bandmates created together. Nor does it ask the public to judge anyone\u2019s grief or intentions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Away from the ongoing legal battle, the surviving members of Mastodon have reflected recently on their time with Brent Hinds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t easy to talk about Brent, he was our family, someone we all loved wholeheartedly. He was a wild man, our wild man and that came with some challenges,\u201d the band wrote in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth things are true and we aren\u2019t interested in chasing one truth over the other. Losing him has meant sitting with a type of grief we never expected. No more hugs, no more high fives, no more disagreements, no more making up. That part has been hard, it\u2019s real.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this month, it was revealed that the estate of late Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds was suing his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1484,93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-631625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-artist","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}