by kufen Wed Jan 12, 2005 12:28 pm
Medusa and bootlegs? What's the big deal?I [DzM] (and my server) are physically located in the United States of America, a country with somewhat firm intellectual property laws. The USA also has industry associations that make it their role to enforce those laws and levy fines against violators (these are the same organizations that have been suing Napster/eDonkey/BitTorrent users and web sites). It has also been established in the USA that the provider of a service (me) can sometimes be held responsible for the actions of the users of that service (you).
I am not willing to risk being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) so that you can have free or unauthorized music. As long as The Pogues' CDs have that tiny text on them that says:
WARNING: Unauthorized reproduction of this recording is prohibited by federal law and subject to criminal prosecution.
or
Unauthorized copying, hiring, lending, public performance, and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.
or concert promoters have a "no recording devices" policy, discussions or links that fall into these categories won't be tolerated:
- Direct links to unauthorized reproductions of music (e.g. a link from Medusa -> foobar.mp3, but I have no problem with a link from Medusa -> another site -> foobar.mp3)
- Direct coordination of exchange of materials (sale, trade, gift, whatever). There will be no "Dude! I'll totally swap you for that show!" There are millions of non-public-and-doesn't-get-DzM-sued ways to contact each other on the Internet which don't put me at risk of being an accessory.
On other web sites, where there
are fora dedicated to the sale and exchange of bootlegs, the web site owner/administrator has elected to assume the risk of being an accessory (most likely); or the record label or promoters have a tolerant policy toward recording and distributing live shows (and in some cases the studio material as well); or the band has more direct ownership of their creative works and are able to set the policy themselves AND embrace their fans' desire to have a permanent record of the performance (in fact many bands now record shows at the soundboard and by the time the encore finishes are burning CDRs for sale at $20 in the lobby).
At this time WEA, The Pogues, and their promoters have not made any public statement about the music and/or performances being free for duplication. The policy of this site is to neither condemn or condone the swapping, nor to directly take part in it.
What’s wrong with the "Streams Of Whiskey" album? The "Streams of Whiskey" release came from an off-the-air recording of a festival. It has been released several times under various names, always without the consent of the band.
Philip Chevron has described this release in these very un-ambiguous terms:
This piece of shit has now been made available in about 5 different formats, most risibly of all as a pricey double-album on 180 gm Virgin Vinyl, which is a bit like tarting up a trashy airport novel in a deluxe leather-bound "edition". It is destined to follow us to the grave, thanks to an unfortunate legal loophole.
This was a Swiss RADIO broadcast, mixed, very poorly, by the radio engineers as the concert was being broadcast in the radio. It almost immediately turned up as the "Live On Rain Street" bootleg and had already been cloned from that several times before its first so-called "official" release in January 2002. It is a third rate recording of only an OK Pogues show. When you consider that we recorded proper live albums in 1987, 1988, 1990 and 1991, with multi-track mobile recording facilities, and shelved ALL of them (except for a few b sides) because we felt they did not do us justice, it is INFURIATING that this artifact slipped out in the manner it did.
The "luxury" vinyl edition of "Streams of Whiskey" which came out a few months ago carried the following sleeve note, which I consider one of the most insulting pieces ever written about The Pogues:
“When the Pogues disbanded in 1996, many people asked themselves when they would find another crazy bunch of Irish beer drinkers with a penchant for folk-punk like these. Led by the now legendary Shane MacGowan – and briefly fronted by the Clash’s Joe Strummer -- the Pogues recorded this live concert in Switzerland in 1991 in front of an audience eager for their music and all the rest. Streams of Whiskey features MacGowan’s group at its best – or worst since it is impossible to know whether the Pogues were more convincing when drunk and out of tune or sober and technically more satisfying – shooting out 16 of their best tunes in a highly inebriating – and inebriated - night."
Garbage. Illiterate garbage too.
I cannot stress too strongly: the FIRST Pogues live album we have been prepared to put our name to, because we are unequivocally proud of its contents, is the one that will be released by Warner Music in the UK on March 14 [2005], with international editions to follow.
[b][i]Medusa[/i] and bootlegs? What's the big deal?[/b]
I [DzM] (and my server) are physically located in the United States of America, a country with somewhat firm intellectual property laws. The USA also has industry associations that make it their role to enforce those laws and levy fines against violators (these are the same organizations that have been suing Napster/eDonkey/BitTorrent users and web sites). It has also been established in the USA that the provider of a service (me) can sometimes be held responsible for the actions of the users of that service (you).
I am not willing to risk being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) so that you can have free or unauthorized music. As long as The Pogues' CDs have that tiny text on them that says:
[indent][i]WARNING: Unauthorized reproduction of this recording is prohibited by federal law and subject to criminal prosecution.[/i][/indent]or
[indent][i]Unauthorized copying, hiring, lending, public performance, and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.[/i][/indent]
or concert promoters have a "no recording devices" policy, discussions or links that fall into these categories won't be tolerated:
[list][*]Direct links to unauthorized reproductions of music (e.g. a link from [i]Medusa[/i] -> foobar.mp3, but I have no problem with a link from [i]Medusa[/i] -> another site -> foobar.mp3)
[*]Direct coordination of exchange of materials (sale, trade, gift, whatever). There will be no "Dude! I'll totally swap you for that show!" There are millions of non-public-and-doesn't-get-DzM-sued ways to contact each other on the Internet which don't put me at risk of being an accessory.[/list]
On other web sites, where there [i]are[/i] fora dedicated to the sale and exchange of bootlegs, the web site owner/administrator has elected to assume the risk of being an accessory (most likely); or the record label or promoters have a tolerant policy toward recording and distributing live shows (and in some cases the studio material as well); or the band has more direct ownership of their creative works and are able to set the policy themselves AND embrace their fans' desire to have a permanent record of the performance (in fact many bands now record shows at the soundboard and by the time the encore finishes are burning CDRs for sale at $20 in the lobby).
At this time WEA, The Pogues, and their promoters have not made any public statement about the music and/or performances being free for duplication. The policy of this site is to neither condemn or condone the swapping, nor to directly take part in it.
[b]What’s wrong with the "Streams Of Whiskey" album? [/b]
[indent]The "Streams of Whiskey" release came from an off-the-air recording of a festival. It has been released several times under various names, always without the consent of the band.
Philip Chevron has described this release in these very un-ambiguous terms:
[i]This piece of shit has now been made available in about 5 different formats, most risibly of all as a pricey double-album on 180 gm Virgin Vinyl, which is a bit like tarting up a trashy airport novel in a deluxe leather-bound "edition". It is destined to follow us to the grave, thanks to an unfortunate legal loophole.
This was a Swiss RADIO broadcast, mixed, very poorly, by the radio engineers as the concert was being broadcast in the radio. It almost immediately turned up as the "Live On Rain Street" bootleg and had already been cloned from that several times before its first so-called "official" release in January 2002. It is a third rate recording of only an OK Pogues show. When you consider that we recorded proper live albums in 1987, 1988, 1990 and 1991, with multi-track mobile recording facilities, and shelved ALL of them (except for a few b sides) because we felt they did not do us justice, it is INFURIATING that this artifact slipped out in the manner it did.
The "luxury" vinyl edition of "Streams of Whiskey" which came out a few months ago carried the following sleeve note, which I consider one of the most insulting pieces ever written about The Pogues:
“When the Pogues disbanded in 1996, many people asked themselves when they would find another crazy bunch of Irish beer drinkers with a penchant for folk-punk like these. Led by the now legendary Shane MacGowan – and briefly fronted by the Clash’s Joe Strummer -- the Pogues recorded this live concert in Switzerland in 1991 in front of an audience eager for their music and all the rest. Streams of Whiskey features MacGowan’s group at its best – or worst since it is impossible to know whether the Pogues were more convincing when drunk and out of tune or sober and technically more satisfying – shooting out 16 of their best tunes in a highly inebriating – and inebriated - night."
Garbage. Illiterate garbage too.
I cannot stress too strongly: the FIRST Pogues live album we have been prepared to put our name to, because we are unequivocally proud of its contents, is the one that will be released by Warner Music in the UK on March 14 [2005], with international editions to follow.[/i][/indent]
