Re: [JBC] pat's thoughts on bootlegging

David Whittemore wrote:

> Now, you know that I don't object to cassette trading.
> So what is different between the current situation and the trading of
> cassettes when the albums come out?
> I believe it is this: if you're making an album, running a little "career",
> as it were, then you don't mind cassettes flying about because it makes
> people aware of the shit. People who get sent cassettes of an album may well
> end up going out and buying a copy. (Well, Dave Coverly does, anyway...)
>
> Here, however, we are in a situation where there is no "career" and no need
> to spread the artist's work around because the poor bloody artist is already
> effectively (forcibly?) "retired".

So I shouldn't invite people to Jazz Butcher shows or share any Jazz Butcher or Sumosonic music with them? So there will never be any new music from Jazz Butcher, and so there is no reason to spread the a bit of cheer with a Jazz Butcher tune? How very dismal.

> The publicity factor makes no difference
> in this situation. Likewise, no one who receives an MP3 of "Girlfriend" is
> going to go out and buy it. The MP3s are only getting traded because there
> are no bloody records available to start with!
> So what to do?

Suggestion MAKE MORE MUSIC - write a bloody dismal song about people trading MP3 "girlfriends". CDs are todays cassettes and are merely the new form of spreading music. Just think soon DVD recorders will be affordable and people will trade digital copies of the Count Dracula video, won't that be something ;-)

> I don't believe for a moment that we can get these people to
> pay me money when they pass MP3s around. Like I say, there is no structure
> for this. Indeed, if I were to get paid on such a deal, I would be part of
> the bootlegging process and the record companies which own this shit would
> have every right to come and whup my sorry ass.
>
> Anyone who suggests paying me on an MP3 trade has not thought it through
> at all.
> Their offer of sending me money is just patronising. Especially because,once
> they've done the trade, they'll realise that there is no earthly reason for
> them to send money to an artist who doesn't even know that they've been
> trading. It's like suggesting that I get paid a royalty on a cassette trade.
> It just ain't gonna happen. All that stuff about "making Pat rich and
> famous" is patronising claptrap and I find it offensive.
>
> I fear a flood of MP3 bootlegs over the next couple of years.
> If this occurs there will be absolutely no point in anybody trying to
> arrange for the re-release of these albums ever. Everyone who wants a copy
> will be able to have one. For free. Which would mean that I had already made
> my last dollar from my record-making career. I can't be expected to be happy
> about that.

> I'm sure that people are already doing this trading. I'm sure that there is
> nothing that any of us can do to stop it. I'm sure that it would be both
> impractical and illegal for well-intentioned MP3 traders to pay me a
> royalty.
>
> i would like people's opinions on this bit:

MP3s are good for passing around like cassettes or minidiscs, but I would much rather have uncompressed and undistorted music CD anyday. An example of MP3s used to spread the word: I downloaded a pre-release of a Love and Rockets song from A2B music (free mp3), I liked it and ordered the disc online. There is a new remix of a song online now that I downloaded (free again), very cool. I think it is a tool that artists and/or promoters should try to use to their advantage because it doesn't seem to be going away.

>
>
> On a more positive note, perhaps we might think ahead to the possibility of
> putting up newer recordings on the site, which punters might download for
> money in the style of Public Enemy. But this would obviously involve
> "adjective" getting into "e-business" and that, sir, is your business.

"adjective" or "someone" it shouldn't be hard to set up a deal with an existing MP3 seller. GO FOR IT! PLEASE!

>
>
> Yours, bitter and twisted (spelled p...o...o...r),
> Pat
> xxx :)
>
> -david (del@adjective.com)
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 700w st c m dj ct v c m nc nv n nt c m htdb rg m r
> c rcl n c rg s d sw p c m s m s n c c m xp ll n8 c m
> mustn't offend
Received on Mon Aug 23 19:36 PDT 1999