Compact Discs

Here's another scenario from 2001. I worked at a radio station. There were many songs we didn't have that we wanted to use on our "Lost Classics" segment. We downloaded them from Napster. Since we, as a radio station, were licensed with BMI/ASCAP/etc did we have the right to download those songs and play them over the air?

I even downloaded full albums for our "Midnight Munch". Every Friday night at midnight we would play a full album in its entirety. Between each song we would play a station sweeper or the sound effects of records popping and cracking. 

Most of the time for that feature, I would usually spend my own money. BMG CD club was still around and if I wanted to play a Zeppelin album on Midnight Munch that I didn't have I would order a bunch of classic albums from BMG then play them as the feature that week.

BearDad wrote:

Do they really expect me to pay $40+ each year for multiple computers?

Yes, they do. Most of MS products are that way.

That's one big reason for the open source boom that's been occurring.

MikeInFla wrote:

Since we, as a radio station, were licensed with BMI/ASCAP/etc did we have the right to download those songs and play them over the air?

That was my understanding so I had no issue doing the same. If nothing else, I was helping with promotion.

And getting back to Messiah Prophet, well, that is no longer available (as many of the Pure Metal releases from back in the day). They are hard to track down or way overpriced. I have no idea where my album is (I even called my dad a few months ago and told him to look and see if he could find them, he couldn't). But, since I did legally buy it at a record store I spent the money for that album. If someone offered me a digital copy (which they did) I would take it. When one is offered that I have never owned, I don't take a copy of it. One exception was Rex Carroll's "That Was Then, This Is Now". Someone made me a copy, I played it ONE time and loved it so much I bought the downloads that same day from CD Baby. Without someone giving me a copy I would have never bought it. 

Here's one more scenario for you -- My folks live 500 miles away in TN. One of my childhood friends told me he bought a turntable. So I told him he could "borrow" my albums and rip me a digital copy. He did, and they were still my albums. He e-mailed me digital copies of my records, which were still mine but loaned to him until I could get back to Tennessee to pick them up. Then in 2013 he was tragically killed. I talked to his wife a few times and she asked if I wanted any of his records. My response was "Yes, I want ALL of his records he told me if anything ever happened to him he wanted me to have them all. And over half of what he has is already mine anyway". She reneged on the deal and I never got them back, so are they still mine?

topshot rhit wrote:

Xid wrote:

Playing another artist's songs live is covered by the venue.

Really? I have NEVER heard that. Always thought it was on the artist (or their label) unless they were given express permission from the original artist to perform it without paying royalties.

They changed the laws awhile back.  Clubs that have bands play pay what comes down to a subscription fee to cover royalties due for bands playing cover tunes.  Did you notice about 15 years or so ago that when your church displayed the worship song on the screen that the CLI# was on it?  The church has to, or is supposed to, keep track of what songs get played so royalties get divided accordingly.

Season 7 of American Idol, David Archuleta on the advice from his dad, performed a song that was a mix of two songs.  The producers were mad at them because they didn't tell them that they were doing it that way and American Idol had to pay 2 royalties on the 1 performance.

I don't know if they were successful at it, but I read an article where the RIAA tried to argue that ripping a CD (that you own) to MP3 (even for your own personal use) is illegal.  If you wanted the music in a different format that you bought it in you would need to purchase the music in multiple formats.
We would probably look at this as absolutely ridiculous (I know I do), but the RIAA did sue several people over this very issue.

Who does the riaa decide to go after ? I mean, esp since EVERYONE IN THE COUNTRY has at one point (or more realistically ALL THE TIME) copied albums for their friends...

I thought some of this had gotten loosened up but maybe i'm wrong. I know at first, used CD shops were threatened because selling a used disc doesn't make any money for the artist but it seems I recall the court ruled in favor of the shops because the physical cd wasn't the right of the company. It's all very convoluted.

^ Very interesting. I was unaware of the threat against "used CD shops". Again, that goes back to my "devil's advocate" argument of what can or cannot be re-sold. "Technically" the material on the physical media was meant to only be sold once - A buyer who pays for the CD now owns the "listening rights" to that CD, but does not own the music itself. To resell it to someone else is to make money off of someone elses property. I know this sounds goofy, but that's how they see it.

I spend a small fortune on music every year to beef up my physical collection. But most of them are used albums from multiple sources - no artists are getting paid for my purchases. I feel great when I DO buy an album that profits the artists, but most of the time that's not the case. But I don't feel bad about buying used. It is what it is. Unfortunately it's obvious that most sellers of used CDs have already ripped their own copy.

I always thought it'd be great if a small percentage of used CD or LP sales via Amazon or ebay (or other music sellers) could go to the artists/labels.  ie if I sell a used CD for 10 bucks, it'd be cool if Amazon got their small portion as well as the artist getting a small portion too.
Unfortunately that would work great in a perfect world, but once again, we are far from a perfect world.

Remember the PMRC stuff in the 80s?  Dee Snider and Frank Zappa appearing before the Senate Commerce Committee?  The little Parental Advisory labels on albums?  Well, those aren't legally mandated, they are voluntarily applied.  The recording industry agreed to those labels in exchange for legislation that gave record labels a portion of the profits from sales of blank cassette tapes.

I think it is good that we are making distinctions between legal and ethical here because U.S. Copyright Law is exactly what we would expect the U.S. Congress to put out there.  It has to be up there with the ACA as one of the screwiest pieces of legislation ever written.  I am convinced most of it was written with the attitude "we'll just write this and let the courts figure out what we mean."  For example, according the law it is illegal to distribute copies of purchased CDs, but it is only a federal crime if the value of the distributed copies is over $1000.  So...it is illegal for me to make and give away copies of my CDs, but I can't be prosecuted federally unless I give away 60 of them??  And it is illegal for me to make a copy of a CD and sell it, but it wouldn't be illegal for me to buy a bootlegged copy of someone else's CD.  What about mix tapes/CDs?  Well, again technically those are illegal, but court rulings tend to avoid getting into issues of giving music to family and friends, so it is like they are saying it is illegal to do it but we're not going to do anything to you as long as you keep it quiet and don't try to make any money off it.

As far as whether they expect everyone in a household to purchase their own copy of a CD to listen to, that gets into the private vs. public performance thing.  The RIAA I'm sure would love to have something like the software licensing language that says 1 copy for 1 person, but software and music are totally different animals.  If I'm typing a document in Word on my computer, my wife can't also be typing a document in Word on my computer.  It requires two actual copies of the same software for two people to use it simultaneously.  With music, if I'm listening to something through speakers at my desk or in the kitchen or wherever, then everyone in that vicinity really doesn't have a choice about whether or not they are also listening to some degree.  So that won't work for them.  Instead, there are guidelines regarding size of a venue, the nature of the sound system, and whether or not money is being charged for listening to the music.  So I could have 20 friends over for a listening party and still be legal as long as I don't make them pay to come, but if I held a party in the backyard and charged $5 a person, then I'd better get the appropriate licensing.

Quote :

I hear tapes have made an underground comeback, but not enough to be substantial. 8tracks died and rotted (quite literally)

I see people at flea markets and on ebay getting big money for 8Tracks..even cassettes are shooting up in price and Vinyl is selling millions again..but Cd's are everywhere and now I see alot of older bands releasing their catalog in the form of CD boxsets with books and stickers and etc.... I wish I could find a good original Sony Walkman cassette player in very good working order for less that $50..I would be on it..but they are very very expensive when I find them 

Interesting Article: Why CDs May Actually Sound Better Than Vinyl

http://www.laweekly.com/music/why-cds-may-actually-sound-better-than-vinyl-5352162

Oh man, I see cassette walkmen at thrift stores and flea markets all around southern California. .. CHEAP too !

I still have my very first Sony CD walkman. Still works ! Still skips if you sneeze too -haha!

The one I had back when was like this one..I would love to get another just like it...