From the cyberdesk of: Phil Z
quoted 8 lines On the other hand, if you charge Chris money for recording the latest> On the other hand, if you charge Chris money for recording the latest
> Biosphere cd on a tape, outside of the cost of the actual media and the
> shipping cost, then not only would you be breaking copyright law, but I'd
> think you were a real asshole. There's no legitimate service in your
> receiving money to sell music that you didn't create; that money belongs to
> the musicians and the label that went to the trouble to create and produce
> it.
> Phil Z
OK, phil, what about the service he would be providing me, say, if I wanted
a copy of the Biosphere CD on a deck of punch cards. I don't think the
musicians nor the label will *ever* create and produce a version of their
work in that media. So, *then* would he be able to charge for his
"conversion" services? Is Biosphere available in cassete format? If yes,
then why doesn't Chris just get it in that format? Since he hasn't, I'd
guess that the conversion services are important to Chris, and if he's
willing to pay for them, and the label can't or *won't* provide media in
that format, then why wouldn't he be able to charge Chris for those
services? How does this affect the IDM "library"? Well, lets see, the label
gives the WWW site permissions to have .au files. Well, I like .wav files.
Am I in copyright violation if I convert the .au file to a .wav?
Also, is there a parallel to a photographer taking a picture of a painting?
Does that violate the painter's copyright to his/her work?
Perhaps any such agreement should include something like "the WWW site shall
have a license to distribute media in any digital form as long as there is
no equal distribution media form currently offered by the label or any of
its other non-exclusive licensing arrangements, including those that may not
exist at the time of this agreement. In addition the WWW site shall be
prohibited from offering for sale any license to the work contained on any
media it distributes that differs from the terms of this license."
That pretty much lets WWW off the hook for anything on it, downloaded from
it or whatever as long as anybody who downloads can't get the real deal from
the label. So, if in the future, the label decides to "sell" .wav files,
then they would have to be taken off the WWW site. The other problem it
doesn't solve is somebody downloading a .au file and converting it to a
wav when the label offers for sale a .wav version of the work. This is a
direct parallel to Chris's case if the label does offer a cassette version
of the Biosphere CD.
ObIDM: Thanks y'all for the tip on which of the two "Universe" compilation
versions to pick up. I got the black cover UK version which is non-mixed,
and am very happy with that decision.
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Michael King mike%delta1@rex.cs.tulane.edu
Delta Systems
New Orleans, LA 70002 Voice: 504.837.9835 Fax: 504.837.9838
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Never under estimate the bandwidth of a station wagon loaded with mag tapes.
-Karl Kleinpaste, postmaster Ohio State University
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