I have been sitting silently here reading all of the posts and
"interpretations" regarding the AHRA, copywrite, ethics and such. It has
been quite an interesting little thread. I have read some more intelligent
posts, great BS posts, and down right idiotic posts. We have not yet heard
from any lawyers yet, which may be quite interesting, but I thought I would
give a little insight from the "other" side of things. Not an artist, not a
huge record company, but the "middle" man. An independant studio. I have
done the actual recording for quite a few artists. Some bigger ones, alot of
"no-names". I will not give any names because they are irrelevant to the
conversation.
==============================================================
First things first:
The AHRA and copywright laws are written to be interpretted either way.
Most laws are. But in reality, they will be used against any individual who
violates them. You can argue that the AHRA gives you the "right" to copy,
blah, blah, blah... and maybe it does. The copywright laws however, do not.
If I copy a CD that I borrowed, I am in violation. Will I be sued, no. If
I set up a trading ring to trade pirated copies (that is what an illegal
copy is), will I get sued? Maybe, if I get noticed. If I am discovered, I
most definitely will get legal notice to stop. Whether they go so far as to
sue me is a matter of money. Don'y forget, they don't pay legal fees, you
do. Any judge will most likely side with the copywright holder. As for it
being "commercial" and such, it is simple. You did gain when you received
something in return. That is a gain. A blank, another recording, ANYTHING!
Again, if it is pushed to court, you will lose. So it is illegal. But so
is driving 56 MPH in a 55 MPH speed zone. Most of the time, no one cares -
including the police officer.
Lets talk about bootlegs. Recording a bootleg (the actual process of
recording the source show) is not illegal at all. It may be prohibited at
the venue that the artist is playing at, but it is legal to do so.
Distributing it is illegal, however. If it is done for profit, expect to
have a possible lawsuit. Again, trading those shows is most of the time
ignored. Get an artist who cares, and the legal notices start.
The key words in both these instances is distribution. That is what draws
the attention.
===============================================================
Next I would like to address "Magic":
>I have not looked for them yet, but I know there are a number of cases
>involving just this, most noticeably the recent cases where Fox proceeded
to
>have numerous internet sites shut down, despite the fact they were
>non-commercial fan sites, relating to it's TV series X-Files. Fox went as
>far as to threaten court action in these cases, and I'm sure I remember a
>case where Fox prosecuted somebody for distributing free copies of the
What does this have to do with the AHRA?
>If the laws in this country did not prohibit me from doing so, I would also
>post the minutes of a court case I was involved in where I sued somebody
for
>swapping copies of a recording of my band in exchange for "rare recordings
>of popular artists". Whilst the distribution of these discs may have been
>beneficial to the band for getting them well known, I resented the action
>because the person concerned was getting a lot of recordings which I would
>have liked myself, was making a recording freely available which my band
had
>just paid £500 to have duplicated from our master copy with the intention
of
>selling them, and was also passing our band off as something we are not (he
>claimed we were a "rare band of international acclaim"). What I hated most
>of all was that I had been the one working my guts off on stage to make
this
>recording a really good one, and then we would not make a penny from it
>because this "person" had dished copies out. At the moment we are now a
>non-performing band because the money we wasted on CDs resulted in us not
>having the funds to replace the damaged P.A. equipment which has now given
>up on us and is uneconomical to repair. Almost all the people who were
going
>to buy the CD have got a copy "from a friend". Maybe that is why I resent
>piracy so much, but even so, it is still illegal. My personal feelings make
>me think that I would like to see the so-called "people" who claim copying
>CDs doesn't hurt anyone lined up on death-row, but that would go against my
>beliefs.
Hmm, touching story. The laws do allow you to post the final judgement,
however. You can also post the case number publically. I would like to see
this very information. Why you ask? Because I doubt you. You sound like
you want to blame someone for the fact that you made a few CDs and tried to
make it big, but it did not go anywhere. You act as though those few
copies, that the person traded away, is the cause of the failure. Please do
not interpret this as me insulting you by calling you a failure or anything,
because that is not my intention. You just sound bitter and want to blame
someone for the fact that you guys did not make it. I have seen this happen
thousands of time. I feel for you, but this is, unfortunately, quite
common. 95% of bands fail within the first year alone.
It sounds to me like you had poor management. You were expecting to make
money off of a 500 pound investment. That should have been explained to you
differently. That money is used to issue "demos" to the studios, radio
stations, public, etc. It sounds like you guys were expecting a profit from
it to buy/fix equipment. My suggestion to you is this. Treat this band as
any other business. That is what it is. It must invest money to make
money. I have personally had people spend tens of thousands of dollars on
studio time and never even finish the CD. They end up going bankrupt or
breakup or whatever. I wish you luck in the future and hope that you do
make it someday. When you do, be mindful not to spend that first advance.
Remember, that is an advance, not free money. All of you expenses come out
of that. Limos, women, studio time...everything.
===============================================================
Maybe I am the evil guy? After all, I made the money while the artist
perished, right? Wrong, this is a business. I take my cut up front for my
services whether you make it or not. My business does not gain from your
success, so why should it fail from it either.
People seem to think that life is fair or something. It isn't. Some people
will gain, others will lose. As a whole, it does mostly even out, however.
If you are lucky, you are ahead before you die...
Michael Koehler...
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