Re: Fw: Israel Music Today: Piracy

[robert wiener <wiener...>]

(And here is some of my response to Simon.)

I'm disappointed to hear this, but, unfortunately, not surprised.  It
certainly puts a whole new wrinkle in our copyright conversation.

A classic example of chutzpah -- just think, claiming the protection
of halachah and copyright law will you are violating both yourself.


And it's a particular shame when the effect of such copyright
infringement is not only to deprive the artist of rightful royalties,
but also to deprive the public of works they might like to have.
Promoting the creation (and distribution) of such work was, in fact,
the main objective of the constitutionally encouraged copyright laws.

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Klezcorner (at) aol(dot)com <Klezcorner (at) aol(dot)com>
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Wednesday, August 04, 1999 5:05 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Israel Music Today: Piracy


>
>In a message dated 8/4/99 7:27:26 AM, wiener (at) mindspring(dot)com writes:
>
><<
>I just saw the following on a Barton Brothers cassette from House of
>Menorah:
>
>ANY DUPLICATION IS A VIOLATION OF HALACHA &
>COPYRIGHT LAWS
> >>
>
>I had privately answered Bob's posting, but he suggested that I post
a reply
>for the List.
>
>In regard to The Barton Brothers on House of Menorah.
>House of Menorah has been out of business for years.  There is not a
single
>recording on the market containing Barton Brothers material that is
"kosher"-
>where royalties are being paid to Eddie Baron.  .As I posted once
before to
>the list Eddie Barton and I have become very good friends, and he has
not
>seen a penny for any of his recordings in decades neither as the
artist or
>composer.
>
>There is a "frum" music company that is notorious for taking older
product
>(still within copyright) and releasing it without permission, not
paying the
>artist, and putting this warning on the shell casing :
>
>ANY DUPLICATION IS A VIOLATION OF HALACHA &
>COPYRIGHT LAWS
>
>I plan to release a "Best of The Barton Brothers" Cd soon, and have
arranged
>a royalty with Eddie Barton. He has supplied me with some great
photos and
>stories which I had planned to use in a detailed booklet. However,
because of
>all the Illegal copies of The Barton product, I will just release a
simple
>cover with no booklet. It's a real shame, but there's no point
investing in a
>project when you know that an inferior copy is siphoning of your
profit,
>especially in such a limited market.
>
>Personally, I don't know-though I have my suspicions as to who is
>manufacturing this tape.  At one time, Eddie had made a licensing
arrangement
>with House of Menorah, however, due to nonperformance (payment??) he
canceled
>his arrangement with the company and all the elements were to be
returned to
>him.  None were.
>When house of Menorah closed down, they "sold" off their "rights' to
what
>they claimed they owned-whether they owned them or not...-this is
also very
>common in the Jewish Music business-especially if they believe the
artists
>are no longer around.
>
>By the way, the entire cost of manufacturing the 'unauthorized"
cassette of
>The Barton Brothers is probably no more than forty cents-which is
>considerably less than the royalty I am paying.
>
>I want to make clear that I am not accusing any particular company of
this
>practice since I have not seen this cassette, however this has been
going on
>for a long time and is still happening.
>The fact that you see this:
>ANY DUPLICATION IS A VIOLATION OF HALACHA & COPYRIGHT LAWS
>does not "a legitimate record make"
>
>This practice gives a black eye to not only the Jewish music
business, but to
>the innocents in the Religious community as well.
>Simon
>Hatikvah
>
>
>
>----------------------
jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+
>