A question for Gino and some thoughts.........
A question for Gino and some thoughts.........
...........on the possibility of future Arkestra recordings.
First off, thanks to Gino Robair for taking the time to answer the query about Rastascans possible involvement in releasing an Arkestra CD.
the financial ramifications of releasing a CD of music where the ownership of the rights >are in question is very scary for a small label
Are you referring to the performance rights or the publishing rights? Does Rastascan or the artists involved have to pay someone for the publishing rights to use the material on Wavelength Infinity. I have been curious as to how that aspect is being handled by the various musicians who have recorded and released Ra compositions recently.
Does anyone know if any of the the unrecorded Sun Ra compositions that the Arkestra has the charts for were ever copyrighted? Recording unreleased compositions would give them the best shot at a saleable product but would possibly cause the biggest legal headaches. Beside straightening out the problems that Gino brings up with questions of legality the Arkestra faces another major hurdle if they want to release a new cd recording. There are already quite a few Sun Ra CD's on the market that not only feature the remaining principal members of the Arkestra but also have Sunny himself on them. At last count there were about 50- 55 Sun Ra CD's (excluding bootlegs) most of which are still available - if you can find a store willing to stock them. It will be hard for them to convince a record label that they have a viable product. There is a lot more to releasing a cd than recording and pressing it. Contract negotiations can be expensive. You have to get the distributors to stock it and subsequently stores to order and stock it. And of course people have to know it is available which means money spent on promotion. Most non musicians are unaware that a record deal is like getting a loan from a bank. You have to pay back whatever moneys they invest before you see a penny in profit. If you are fortunate you may get a nice sized advance but that also must be payed back and jazz artists do not get the type of advances that pop/rock musicians get. The more the label is willing to spend the more you owe and the longer it will be before you may see royalties. This is exactly the reason that a lot of non commercial acts choose to market their own music. Any profits after cost go entirely to the musicians. The situation may look bleak for the Arkestra but they have a history of doing things in non conventional ways which they should exploit. They have taken the first step by releasing the Kimballs tapes themselves. Anyone who wants to encourage them to persue the release of more music should first buy copies of these tapes. If they don't feel that they have the support of their fans they will not put forth the effort to record and release more material. It is going to take a lot of perserverence on their part to get a record deal with a reliable label. The Arkestra members are not business minded. Sun Ra always took care of the business and rather poorly at that. If things had been handled better the Arkestra would not be in the situation they find themselves in today. We are extremely fortunate that they continue to play and hold the band together. Any time you buy a ticket to a show, a t-shirt, cassette you are showing the band that their music connected with you. Sure they need the money to keep going but the band was never about money it was about reaching people with a musical/ spiritual message. Make sure that they know they have your support in whatever way you can.
Steve Ramirez