[ARSCLIST] Rounder response

[Dick Spottswood <dick@xxxxxxxx>]

----- Forwarded by Dick Spottswood/dick/AmericanU on 06/16/2006 03:20 PM 
-----

Bill Nowlin <bnowlin@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
06/16/2006 02:54 PM

To
Dick Spottswood <dick@xxxxxxxx>
cc

Subject
anonymous badmouth






As one of the founders of Rounder Records, I was a little surprised to 
read the anonymous suggestion from someone quoting someone else who 
supposedly "really knows the business" and that suggests that this other 
unnamed person criticizes Rounder "from experience."
 
The person who wrote in said that tapes donated to a non-profit 
organization should be labeled "Not to be Used by Rounder Records" because 
"Rounder will go in, copy the tapes, release them on CD and no one will 
get paid."
 
Of course, common sense should tell everyone that Rounder would hardly be 
in business 36 years after our founding if that's the way we treated 
people.  It would be illegal, not to mention unethical. 
 
The way this information is presented, of course, is a simple business 
slander without the possibility of correction.  Is it possible that 
Rounder made a mistake?  Could we correct the mistake, based on the 
information provided?  Having released over 3,000 albums in the last 36 
years, it would be surprising if we never made a mistake in paying 
royalties.  Certainly, we've made mistakes.  And if someone is a proper 
royalty recipient we haven't paid, it would be good to have the chance to 
correct the mistake.  Unless the goal is simply to try and anonymously 
tarnish Rounder's reputation, wouldn't it be better to ensure that the 
person got paid?   I guess it depends on the real motivations at play.
 
The way the allegation is presented, though, goes beyond the suggestion 
that Rounder made a mistake by omitting payments to someone.  It more than 
implies that Rounder has a systematic policy of wilfully copying tapes 
belonging to other people and releasing them on CD, and paying "no one." 
That's irresponsible. Rounder has worked closely over the decades with 
many artists and also with many not-for-profit organizations, from the 
Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the International 
Institute of Traditional Music and many more, and with children's 
not-for-profit organizations such as Bright Spaces. 
 
Bill Nowlin
Rounder Records
 

----- Forwarded by Dick Spottswood/dick/AmericanU on 06/16/2006 02:19 PM 
----- 
seva <seva@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent by: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx> 

06/16/2006 02:03 PM 

Please respond to
Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx>



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Subject
Re: [ARSCLIST] Bluegrass repository?










the best place for this is the non-profit organization formed 
specifically to cover these recordings:

here's a quote by a person who really knows the business. i will not 
reveal who they are as they are criticizing Rounder in this comment, 
*from experience*:

>Bluegrass Museum in Owensboro, KY, will take them.  Need the dates 
>they were recorded and where.  Fiddlers names.  Put on the letter 
>"Not to be Used by Rounder Records".  As Rounder will go in, copy 
>the tapes, release them on CD and no one will get paid.


International Bluegrass Music Museum
207 East Second Street
Owensboro,KY  42303
270-926-7891
www.bluegrass-museum.org




-- 
w/best regards,
seva
mastering engineer
http://www.soundcurrent.com


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Things are not what they seem to be; nor are they otherwise.
 -- Lankavatara Sutra