Thanks for that explanation. What weirdness.
BTW, the big record companies have finally succeeded in buying enough
politicians to get public domain lengthened in Canada, from 50 to 70
years. This was just announced a week ago, and it appeared, with no
details, in a budget proposal, well hidden under the heading "Celebrating
our Heritage,” right under items about the Canadian Olympics and waterfront
development. There is no mention of it in the Intellectual Property
section of the budget proposal, where it should be. (see
http://www.budget.gc.ca/2015/docs/plan/budget2015-eng.pdf, pp. 22, 265 and
405.
Here are some articles:
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2015/04/the-great-canadian-copyright-giveaway-why-copyright-term-extension-for-sound-recordings-could-cost-consumers-millions/
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/04/22/1350251/the-great-canadian-copyright-giveaway-copyright-extension-for-sound-recordings
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2015/04/the-power-of-backroom-lobbying-how-the-recording-industry-got-their-copyright-term-extension/
and see series of related articles on the Michael Geist site.
This provision, once enacted (which it will be, the way Canada's government
works), puts another Public Domain in the trash can. Except for whatever
"benefits" the politicians have received (which is painfully obvious), this
change in the law is disastrous for any number of Canadian small
businesses, no to mention the poor public, while benefitting only two major
non-Canadian giant corporations, Sony and Warner/EMI/Universal. Articles
disclose that those two companies were totally behind the change. And no
doubt proud of it. No draft statutory wording seems to be available yet,
so it is impossible to tell how it is going to work. There was no public
debate, no prior announcements, etc. This was snuck in as a complete
ambush.
So the giant record companies have made another large step toward stamping
out Public Domain. Of course in our poor country, it already exists only
for the unborn.
Best,
John Haley
On Fri, May 1, 2015 at 11:41 AM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Not even that. Apparently, he was using one of the now-illegal streamers
> to embed the music, and was embedding full playlists. I think he could do
> what Brenda does for Black Grooves, and just embed Spotify playlists, but
> users would then need to have a Spotify account (not a big deal unless you
> REALLY mind surrendering personal info and submitting to tracking of your
> music listening, which I can understand but I can also see it as a
> reasonable price for free as in no-cost streams of copyrighted music).
>
> I think the catch was that the streamer Al Kooper was using did not
> require membership or tracking, so the music companies couldn't collect
> streaming stats and get paid properly. Spotify and Pandora and other vetted
> streamers provide quite a bit of data, but I still think it's a deal with
> the devil for record companies because they make 1/100th the revenue on a
> stream as they do on a download, so about 1/1000th the revenue of a full
> CD. Think about how many CDs are not going to get thousands of streams and
> you see it's not a workable model except for hits (and, as Taylor Swift
> demonstrated, why would artists want to cheap-down their hits while they
> are hits, so expect the hits not to stream for free until they've run their
> course as hits).
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Haley" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, May 01, 2015 10:04 AM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] The copyright dog bites Al Kooper
>
>
>
> I don't get it. Exactly what was his copyright infringement? Selling his
>> revamped versions of other people's old hits on his site?
>>
>> Best, John
>>
>> On Fri, May 1, 2015 at 9:39 AM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Al Kooper, who wore many hats in the rock and blues worlds over the
>>> years,
>>> had an online "column" called New Music for Old People, hosted by the
>>> Morton Report, which seems to be a lifestyle blog for the wealthy.
>>>
>>> Kooper often spotlighted younger bands and highlighted many genres and
>>> musicians. He claimed, in announcing his shutdown (see below), that
>>> neither
>>> he nor the Morton Report profited from anything posted, and in fact his
>>> column led to sales of physical copies and downloads.
>>>
>>> Shutting down expertly "curated" blogs that draw attention to a wide
>>> variety of music and musicians is very short-sighted. I assume Kooper
>>> just
>>> got caught up in the general war on Grooveshark, but why would YouTube
>>> shut
>>> him down too, when it is teeming with unauthorized uploads of
>>> needle-drops
>>> and even full high-rez CD rips?
>>>
>>> Kooper's farewell message e-mailed today:
>>>
>>> Friday, May 1, 2015
>>>
>>> Howdy, music lovers!
>>>
>>> It is with a heavy heart that I have been forced to close down my column
>>> today as a result of alleged copyright infringement. The irony is
>>> striking
>>> as I have never profited from this column, never received a salary, and
>>> my
>>> sole intention was to inform others about music I believe that they would
>>> enjoy listening to and then purchase from the proper channels. I think
>>> that
>>> has ALWAYS been a major interest of mine. Those who know me well have
>>> been
>>> subjected to non-stop musical marathons in my Mancave; in seats next to
>>> me
>>> on trains and airplanes, in cars on long trips, or just in emails
>>> directing
>>> friends to music I thought was appropriate for each individual.
>>>
>>> When we started the column, we used Grooveshark because of their way of
>>> delivering a proper menu for each column, the fact that I was able to
>>> edit
>>> and remaster tracks to make them sound as strong as possible, and that
>>> they
>>> were being streamed - the intention being that those who enjoyed a
>>> selection might proceed to download their selections from proper channels
>>> and purchase them. I was hired initially by The Morton Report and paid a
>>> month in advance, and then never again. I decided to stay with it anyway
>>> as I thought it was a good thing to do for others and I enjoyed it more
>>> than the paltry salary they originally offered. Suddenly it's four years
>>> later and Grooveshark (who also were accused of copyright infringement)
>>> finally shut down under duress yesterday without any prior warning to us.
>>> My partner in this column these last four years, Lisa McKay, designed the
>>> column, selected the photos, and made it appear on deadline every week,
>>> perfectly edited. She also worked gratis for the same reasons I did and I
>>> could never have pulled this off for so long without her inestimable
>>> assistance. By total coincidence, we had decided to switch from the
>>> ailing
>>> Grooveshark to YouTube today, making it the first time we would be
>>> available for listening on smartphones, iPads and other such methods as
>>> opposed to only computers as sanctioned by Grooveshark.
>>>
>>> No such luck. Last night YouTube shut us down immediately for copyright
>>> infringement. The only people in business who understood us were the
>>> promo
>>> and press people behind the scenes. They totally "got" what we were doing
>>> because it assisted them in doing their jobs. There was one problem with
>>> me, though. I would only use material from iTunes or Amazon that I
>>> selected
>>> and purchased each week based on my personal taste. In all four years, I
>>> never included a track I didn't like, especially as a favor for anyone.
>>> Nor did I include anything I despised in order to slam it. No way.
>>>
>>> So here we are. I was at a crossroads anyway. As I have mentioned before,
>>> I am trying to put out a 4CD box set crammed with everything UNRELEASED
>>> from my entire 57-year career. It seems I have concluded my recording
>>> career with my last two CDs, Black Coffe and White Chocolate, which IMHO
>>> were the best ones I ever recorded. I started work on a third one, but
>>> found halfway through that it wasn't as good as the two previous ones and
>>> pulled the plug. The only way I can deliver this monster project is with
>>> your assistance. At the moment I am talking to several sellers and have
>>> realized that this must be funded by fans. In return I can send
>>> autographed
>>> paraphernalia and other goodies lying around the house to commensurate
>>> those who contribute. This is a very costly project
>>> for many reasons but I feel it is a capper to my long, crazy journey and
>>> I
>>> want it to be impeccable. So once the trail is properly planned I will
>>> start a Facebook page for the first time to keep everyone informed on a
>>> daily basis. That should be in the next month or so.
>>>
>>> Finally, I want to thank all of you who listened every week and you know
>>> I
>>> would keep going if they would only let me...but that's another whole
>>> story.
>>> So watch for the Facebook page and please help me to get this box set out
>>> before I leave this poor dying planet.
>>>
>>> All my best as always,
>>>
>>>
>>> @l k%per
>>>
>>> New Music for Old People
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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