Interesting. I was told by someone at Decca about four years ago (back
when their "Contact" page wasn't just an electronic black hole, and when
Decca had begun reissuing discs from the early-music portion of the Argo
catalog) that there were plans afoot to reissue selected spoken-word
albums, as well. Soon afterwards, there was another round of mergers &
acquisitions, *all the *Argo reissues stopped...and the fellow I'd
corresponded with earlier vanished.
But maybe he was mistaken, and Decca never actually possessed the Argo
spoken-word catalog, anyway. If so, then I guess my question now becomes:
would anyone here have a reliable contact at EMI?
Thanks for the clues.
Best,
Michael
On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 12:57 AM, Ted Kendall <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> On 13/09/2013 15:57, Michael Eldridge wrote:
>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> I'm wondering if anyone here has a reliable contact at Decca in London,
>> where I've been having trouble getting anyone to answer my queries (about
>> the possibility of doing an annotated reissue of a group of spoken-word
>> albums by the great Barbadian poet Edward Kamau Brathwaite, released on
>> Argo in the late 1960s and early 70s).
>>
>> When I rang them up many weeks ago now, the nice young man at the
>> switchboard reluctantly (as if he were violating his official Stonewall
>> Instruction Manual and might face discipline from whoever was monitoring
>> our call) referred me to a friend of his elsewhere in the company who knew
>> a bit about Universal Music Group's corporate structure. That young man
>> in
>> turn gave me e-mail addresses for the VP of Catalogue, someone in Legal,
>> and a person whom he would only designate an "archivist" with
>> scare-quotes.
>>
>> So far, the only one of the three to respond is Legal, who informed me,
>> vaguely, that it "appeared" UMG no longer owned the rights to those
>> recordings, which "may have" reverted back to the artist. Only silence in
>> answer to my follow-up request for a more definitive determination about
>> ownership and/or for suggestions as to how Mr. Brathwaite (or anyone else)
>> might actually access or reclaim the master tapes.
>>
>> I'd be most grateful for any useful information and/or advice about how to
>> proceed. Off-list is fine.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>>
>> The Argo trademark and some of the catalogue (Churchill speeches) pased
> to EMI in 1980-odd. Some originators had their tapes and rights returned. I
> have mastered material from one such.
>
--
Michael Eldridge
Professor, Department of English <http://www.humboldt.edu/english/>
Advisor, International
Studies<http://www.humboldt.edu/wlc/international/index.html>
Program
(emphasis in Global Cultural
Studies<http://www.humboldt.edu/wlc/international/c%20in%20global%20cultural%20studies.html>
)
Founders Hall 168
Humboldt State University
Arcata CA 95521
707.826.5906 (ph) | 707.826.5939 (fx)
_____________________________
users.humboldt.edu/mseldridge
_____________________________
"Sir, I have found you an argument, but I am not obliged to find you an
understanding." --Samuel Johnson
--
Michael Eldridge
Professor, Department of English <http://www.humboldt.edu/english/>
Advisor, International
Studies<http://www.humboldt.edu/wlc/international/index.html>
Program
(emphasis in Global Cultural
Studies<http://www.humboldt.edu/wlc/international/c%20in%20global%20cultural%20studies.html>
)
Founders Hall 168
Humboldt State University
Arcata CA 95521
707.826.5906 (ph) | 707.826.5939 (fx)
_____________________________
users.humboldt.edu/mseldridge
_____________________________
"Sir, I have found you an argument, but I am not obliged to find you an
understanding." --Samuel Johnson
|