Hi David:
You don't have the right to decide that Zappa's archive "belongs to the world." Only the owners of
the archive, the Zappa family, have that right. And only the creator, Frank Zappa, had the right to
decide what would happen to that archive. Just because you want to hear something doesn't mean you
have the right to hear it. That's not how artistic ownership and copyrights work. Plus, I think it's
morally wrong to try and usurp or second-guess an artist about his creations. It's the artist's art,
not "the world's." I'm sure Prince's heirs will make hay with his vault, but it's worth noting that
as long as he lived, he very carefully chose what he wanted to release to "the world," and as far as
I know there's not anyone among his heirs who was privy to his deep-thought process about those
matters.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Lee" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2016 7:05 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIB] Interesting coda to discussion of Zappa collection.;
This whole scenario could have been solved 20 years ago, if the Zappa family had thought to deposit
the archive with an appropriate organisation – independent from the family – which included a
monetary donation for the preservation work in return for the retention of copyright by the family
estate, and an agreement for the release of material for publication only after suitable
preservation and restoration work had been completed satisfactorily. Does the Library of Congress
sign such deals?
I firmly believe that Frank Zappa’s work is of international importance, especially concerning his
recordings with diverse musicians. I recall a session involving the combined talents of Irish folk
group the Chieftains with a similar group from South Korea, for example, which resulted in
astonishing music symbiosis. In that respect, Zappa’s archive belongs to the World, not just to
warring family members and bootleggers. Unfortunately, this whole scenario is beginning to show
itself with regard to the Prince archive...
David Lee
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