Re: [ARSCLIST] 21st Century Discographies

[stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Smolian" <smolians@xxxxxxxxx>
> As I understand it, everything recorded in the U.S. is protected to
> non-institution users who do not have permissions.  The more I see posted
on
> the Music Library Association web site, the more I believe this to be the
> attitude of those nominally holding the copyrights.  I'm sure I don't want
> to take on those behemoths financially and/or in court.  Being right, our
> standpoint of course, is not worth the cost.  And they seem to be looking
> for targets.
Technically, yes and no...practically, it is. In fact, I'm not even sure if
institutional users have any rights that haven't been specially arranged
with
RIAA or its members.

>From a strict-interpretation standpoint, anything recorded before 1972 is
not
copyrighted *as a sound recording*, since the original framers of copyright
law neglected to provide for a copyright on sound recordings. However, a
maze
of state laws, often without exemptions or expiry dates, make it illegal to
publish (in the technical sense of that term) sound recordings unless the
publisher actually arranged the recording session and thus owns the
recording.
Some of these laws were enacted to prevent Frank Seaman from reissuing Emile
Berliner's recordings...and because they have no terms or expiry dates,
we STILL can't! Whether or not, and to what extent, these anti-piracy
statuates
would apply to the free (in both senses) distribution of archived sound
files
via the internet has probably not been established; however, some of the
nation's
finest legal minds would be glad to help establish them (at several hundred
dollars an hour plus expenses!).

Now, the RIAA, being firmly convinced that only the invention of personal
computers and the development of the internet is stopping them from selling
237 billion copies of their latest attempts at sound recording, are in
fighting
trim and loaded for bear (well, for music-nappers), and are not in a mood to
grant any allowances in reference to any and all of the obscure statuates
that might be applicable to the hapless soul who merely wants to hear Burt
Sheppard doing "How I Got To Morrow" or, worse yet, arrange for someone else
to hear it. Allowing this chap to get away with that might create a loophole
which would someday allow his offspring to be flogging the latest efforts
of Britney Spears all around the schoolyard (and, worse yet, here in Canada
the first recordings of Elvis become p.d. in just over a year!). As a
result,
the RIAA are reenacting one of Aesop's fables...they have no intention of
ever reissuing many of their vast holdings, but they also have no intention
of allowing anyone else to do so!

It is possible that enough lawyers searching for enough precedents could
establish legally that some or all of these recorded archives could be made
available to an anxiously-waiting (HA!) public...but whoever is financing
this battle will need a rather large pile of money (and a lot of patience!).
In the meantime, there is always Canada...and it's not that bad up here
(then again it's not winter yet!)
Steven C. Barr
(who can play you "How I Got To Morrow" if you can stand the cats...)