Re: what would sun ra do?
Re: what would sun ra do?
by the way, all the "practical" lawyers and their ilk have made sure that marshall allen does not get anything from leo for "What Planet Is This?". i just checked. jason
Francesco Martinelli wrote:
On the contrary, they're most practical. Failing to understand how things work will not put food on the table of musicians, but allows grandstanding, for free. FM ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jason Freejazzfreek" jason@webmutations.com To: SATURN@NIC.SURFNET.NL Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 10:11 PM Subject: what would sun ra do?
these are all interesting intellectual points: sounds "pretty lawyered up" over there in england. :)
i wonder if that release puts food on marshall allen's table...
somehow i doubt it.
it would be nice if it did.
peace, jason
by the way, you can find that show all over the place, FOR FREE, as it was torrented a few months ago on dimeadozen.org. but not by me!
fmartinelli@tin.it 02/09/06 2:19 PM >>>
Hi James It's also spelled "Feigin", fwiw. The issues at hand are very complex, and they involve - payment of royalties to the person(s) or firms who own the rights to the original compositions. They might or might not be the original author(s) since they can forfeit almost all their rights for an outright payment; - payment of mechanicals to the owner of the rights of the RECORDING involved, who may be different than the above. Unless special arrangements are made, like a collective signature under the composition, the performers of the piece are not usually compensated. There are also differences in national laws, and as you say questionable behaviours from recording labels. Before committing to electronic prints one's opinion, or even righteous questions, would be better to study the equation a little. There's a wonderfully entertaining book by Dr. Chadula "I Hate The Man Who Runs This Bar" which is enlightening and also sharply critical of many musicians' easy going attitude over these matters (without condoning scammers of course). And interestingly enough the great Doctor is a Leo recording artist! Sites that could be useful are: http://creativecommons.org/learnmore http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub133abst.html
FM
----- Original Message ----- From: "James L Wolf" To: Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 5:02 PM Subject: Re: What Planet is This?
Well I guess I owe an apology to Mr. Feign regarding the latest Sun Ra release. Like many other people, I had heard many 2nd and 3rd hand rumours of less-than-reputable behaviour from Leo records (and other companies) regarding Sun Ra material. But I had also heard from a very good source (though several years ago) that nobody - except maybe Recommended Records - was paying any royalties, which I've confused with mechanicals, to the estate. But clearly I was mistaken on the issue of mechanicals and Leo. Leo pays the mechanicals to Dejamus, and the royalties then become Dejamus' concern. I accept without question Mr. Feign's claims and apologize for stating otherwise.
James
ajk@kaynou.de 02/09/06 10:31 AM >>>
On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 11:03:03 -0500 James L Wolf wrote here:
Sue and all, I just want to point out that this recording has been circulatingas a free bootleg for a few years. I'd support buying it, and wouldbuy it, if someone deserving were getting some proceeds from thesales.But since this is Leo, that seems unlikely. Hell, they won'teven pay mechanicals for the songs. Unless I'm wrong, I'd encouragefolks to prevent Leo from making money they shouldn't get off ofthis and try to find someone with a copy of the bootleg to make acopy for you.James
The above was read also by Hartmut Geerken, who then enquired with Leo Feigin of Leo Records and got the following response, which I duely submit to the same audience of the STAURN mailing list, here it is:
From: "Leo Feigin" To: Subject: from Leo Records
Dear Hartmut, Here is my short letter to James Wolf and Saturn subscribers.
To James Wolf and Saturn subscribers Dear James Wolf,
A friend of mine e-mailed me your letter to Sue and all of 01.02.2006, in which you pour a lot of scorn on Leo Records for not paying mechanicals for Sun Ra songs. Being such a great and respected scholar, I am sorry that I have to enlighten you on the subject. It is impossible to release a CD in U.K. before one pays mechanicals to MCPS. It is a criminal offence and no pressing plant will ever press a CD if someone does not pay mechanicals. All mechanicals for Sun Ra's CD "What Planet Is This?" have been paid in full and I am prepared to forward you, or anyone else, MCPS invoices. The royalties have been collected by the company Dejamus Ltd, which is the publisher of Sun Ra compositions in U.K. I have no idea who they are, and to be honest, this is none of my business. My business is to pay money to MCPS which I do for every piece of music I produce.
I hope you will have the decency to put the record straight and apologize.
Yours sincerely,
Leo Feigin