Hello folks, I'm new in town. Pleased to meet you!
I'm a computer geek with a studio in his basement. Over the past year,
with the crucial help of the GNU community I've been able to construct a
great little recording system from free software. I use GNU/Linux both
at work and at home as my primary platform.
It seems to me only fair to give back my music to the community who so
unselfishly donated their time and expertise for the common good. My
studio is entirely a private operation - I do not sell studio time and
participation is by invitation only - so until recently I've felt
unencumbered by copyright problems.
In the past few days, a problem has arisen.
One of the members of one of the bands I belong to wrote me the other
day to protest the inclusion of a song he had written on a CD
compilation I was preparing to distribute - internally - to the band. He
feels that, since he owns the copyright to the song I must first request
prior approval from him before I mix or master a song of his down to CD.
Obviously, he's fired. (-;
All kidding aside, our difference on copyright have caused a huge amount
of friction, despite being old friends. He does not accept the GNU
philosophy, and so he feels he's only "protecting his intellectual
property" and does not understand how I could find his demands offensive
- in fact, he found my *reaction* highly offensive! I removed his song,
as he requested. But the bad taste remains.
I understand commercial studios protect themselves in these situations
by asking artists to indemnify them against copyright claims by signing
some sort of a copyright waiver. In return for such-and-such I agree not
to send big lawyers to beat you up, that sort of thing.
I would like to find or create a document that not only indemnifys the
studio for copyright infringement but also states that the music
produced in my studio will be covered under a Copyleft-style license. I
plan to make this a no-exceptions rule and post it on the studio door so
musicians will know before they play a note that this is NOT your usual
commercial studio.
Thanks for listening to my rant! I look forward to your comments and
suggestions.
@->----------------------------------------------
Ken Weeks, Music Farmer Dubious Productions
Studio Paradisio Dancing Bear Bar & Grill
(301)230-0493 Rockville, MD USA EARTH
