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Re: [ARSCLIST] Folkways Reissues
At 12/14/2007 04:54 PM, Tom Fine wrote:
Most if not all of the recordings I'm talking about were made by the
LOC, usually at LOC facilities by LOC technicians with LOC
equipment. If they didn't get release forms signed, I question if
this was a good long-term use of taxpayer funds and public facilities.
That certainly doesn't apply to many of the recordings in the Archive
of American Folk Song, which contains thousands of field recordings
made by folklorists. Some of the collectors did obtain the necessary
paperwork, but many more did not. Much of the collection was donated
to LoC many years later, in various states of disarray.
Also, regarding the Folkways and Cook material, since Smithsonian
owns the rights to all this, why not make it all available for free
as 192kbps or 256kpbs MP3 files? If a person wants the CD quality
and the packaging, they should pay $15 for the CD's. But then again,
PDF's of the notes and covers could be provided online too. Further,
based on a few recent examples in the music world, if the
Smithsonian were to put this online and note that it costs money to
offer it for free and ask for donations, they might be very
pleasantly surprised at how much money they collect.
Not quite what you're looking for, but the Smithsonian's Global Sound
project is partway there. Both of my local public library systems
(Seattle and King County) provide online access to everything in the
Folkways (and other labels) catalogues, including cover art and notes
through their web sites, so I can listen to anything in the catalogue
through my computer. Many other public and university libraries offer
the same service.
You can listen to any single track or whole album from any LP in the
collection. If you want a copy, it's not particularly difficult to
copy each file as it plays.
The public (non-libraries) Global Sound web site
(www.smithsonianglobalsound.org) offers downloads and CDs for sale,
and free downloads of the covers and notes.
I would like to see the LOC, sooner rather than later, get all of
the unique (ie don't waste time and efforts duplicating what's
already been done by someone else somewhere else) audio material
they have digitized that is not copyright-prohibited (and hopefully
they are not digitizing copyright-prohibitive material -- let the
copyright owners bear that expense) online for download. This is the
lowest-overhead way to make this available and the way most likely
to reach the most owners of the LOC (ie the people of the United
States). I would think it's OK to charge for access for any of this
from IP addresses outside the United States, but there is a good
argument to be made that it is good for U.S. for the rest of the
world to have free access to this kind of material (shows the
generosity of the American people plus generally shows the U.S.
society and culture in a good light). Also, it's a good way to get
U.S. citizens engaged in the digitization and preservation process,
which then leads to pressure on Congress not to cut funding.
I can't speak for them, but it's my understanding that the recent
opening of the LoC's audio-video facility in Virginia could be the
first step in this process. They are creating and storing digital
copies at Culpepper and making it available on Capitol Hill through
digital data lines. As I understand it, the ultimate plan is to
establish viewing/listening centers at additional locations
throughout the U.S. that provide the same access as the existing
library buildings in Washington. Whether it becomes "available for
download" depends on the intellectual property issues that I don't
pretend to understand.
Disclaimer: I have no connection with either the Smithsonian or the
Library of Congress, except as a user of both.
John Ross