2000-01-13 by Christopher B. McNeil, Administrative He
Before accepting this generous offer, it might be a good idea to consider
whether Gershwin's estate will receive the royalty it's due. I may be
mistaken; perhaps Rhapsody in Blue is now in the public domain, but if it
is, it would have to have been put there by the owners of the copyright,
and as near as I can tell, that hasn't happened yet. ASCAP has
registered the work and as near as I can tell owns the rights to its
distribution, even if old dead George didn't perform the piece
himself. My concern is that by offering to distribute what you call
a good rendition of the piece, notwithstanding Gary Lloyd's good
intentions, you're doing three things: you're behaving in a way that
casts a real cloud on your respect for the artist and the creator of
artistic pieces like Rhapsody; you're setting a poor example to those who
would support the arts; and you're violating the United States Code
sections that control copyright.
Recall that Todd's site benefits from our visits; that the sponsors
benefit when we click on the banners, and that the allure of the site is
the copyrighted work of people like Gershwin. E-Groups.com
prohibits our engaging in conduct that violates the rights of third
parties, including copyright infringement or using the Service for what
E-groups refers to as acts of intellectual property infringement.
Todd knows this, and he's done us the service of explaining how the Harry
Fox Agency attempts to enforce the rights of these copyright
owners. But enforcement isn't what I'm talking about here; what I'm
raising is the idea that we can presume to copy the work of other
artists, people like Gershwin today, or Chick Corea in an earlier post,
all without recognizing that they created this work and are entitled to
be recognized (and compensated) for their efforts. Even if it's
just to pay a seven and a half cent tribute royalty, that's still
something.
So I'd make this proposition, all in a roundabout way of reacting to the
message below. Maybe the reason the Disklavier Users Group shies
away from this kind of group is that what we're doing in the E-groups
version is not the best way of honoring our heros, the artists who bring
joy to our lives. We're a discrete band of thieves, nickle and diming our
way by a process of rationalization that leads us to believe it's ok to
steal someone's inspiration because now there's the Internet. I'd
encourage our loyal readers to read the article available on the website
for the National Music Publishers Association, at this
link
http://www.nmpa.org/nmpa/expression.html
I hope you'll understand: I'm not an artist, but I love Corea's music as
much as I love the work of Tom Waits, Metallica, Derek and the Dominos,
and Sarah McLachlan. And I think these artists have a right to be
compensated for their work. Good as it is, Gary Lloyd's work
copying and posting the scores of Gershwin infringes on that right and
violates the law, just as does our making copies of the MIDI files. And
it doesn't have to be this way. According to the article posted on
the NMPA website, "Seeking permission to use music is not difficult,
burdensome or costly. NMPA will be pleased to help Internet music users
to contact the copyright owners in order to establish a dialog that may
lead to licensed uses. The currently infringing sites can eventually
develop into sites which serve the interests of all Americans --including
those who need to earn a living from their creative works now and those
who hope to do so in the future-- but only with the cooperation of those
sites' users." I urge Todd and all of the downloaders to consider
the ramifications of what they're doing. And I'll urge E-groups to
do the same.
Chris McNeil
At 06:45 PM 1/12/2000 -0500, you wrote:
Many of the
messages I've sent to the DUG board recently never got posted. I
can only assume there is a moderating intermediary choosing what (and
who) will and won't get posted. I guess it's now more important
than ever to have this alternate forum. In case you wondered, all
messages posted to this board, pass through immediately to all members
without any screening process whatsoever. Why are these guys so
paranoid about their customers (you know, the guys that make payday
possible) comparing notes freely?
Anyone else have an opinion on this
subject? I would suggest others post messages of protest, but they
would undoubtedly get censored and never appear. If you're
listening Yamaha, think long and hard about how petty this makes you
look.
For the record, the censored message was not
threatening or raising hell in any way. I was simply responding to
JJWeb's DUG posting today, looking for a good rendition of Rhapsody in
Blue that wouldn't set him back $35. My recommendation was that he
join the group and download Gary Lloyd's excellent arrangement of it from
our vault. Is that a problem Yamaha? It's OK with
Gary. That says it all.
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Christopher B. McNeil
State of Ohio, Administrative Hearing Examiner
P.O. Box 595
Worthington, OH 43085-0595
740.549.5400
fax: 614.888.2687
email: cmcneil@iwaynet.net