Copyright News

[John A Swartz]

Paul comments on my comment:

> can access be a violation?  Sheez if I tell you the chords to "(Don't
> Fear) The Reaper" are Am - G - F (well, actually they're playing Bm - A -
> G in concert these days I think - Buck using a capo), what's the big
> deal?

The deal is that the copyright to the composition "(Don't Fear) The
Reaper" is owned by someone, and that copyright includes publishing
it.  If you don't obtain permission from the owner, legally you are in
violation of their copyright.

By your same analogy, there is no difference between a photocopy of a
book and a copy produced by having someone dictate it to you whilst
you type it in.

I'm not saying I agree with current copyright legislation, but
ignorance is no defence in the eyes of the law, so I thought I'd point
these things out.



Thanks Paul - hope they don't nab me for putting down Reaper's chords
here! :-0

It's interesting that writing it down could be a copyright violation,
but hey, if you've got a really great memory (some claim to have
"photographic memory), well . . .  Me, I treat paper (and disk space)
like places to hold the extra stuff that won't fit in my brain.

Maybe I have a problem with all this because I see these copyright laws
more as designed (at least as far as most music goes) rights of the
recording industry - certainly not the public, and not (usually anyway)
the artist.  The recording industry has all the money (that they got
from overcharging the public and underpaying the artists) to hire lawyer
(oops lawyers) to look out for their best interests as far as these
laws are concerned.  How about laws that deal with the rights of the
artists - remember them? - the one's that *created* this music that's
making the industry rich?  How about the public?  Why, do you realize,
for example, that the costs for the recording industry to produce a CD
or a cassette these days are just about the same?  Yet how much more do
you pay for a release on CD as oppossed to a cassette?  How about when
a record company teases you with "unreleased" tracks so that you buy
their double CD which is 95% material that you've already paid for
from the record company?  Where's laws to protect us against that?

Well, I'm starting to rant again, and I promised myself that I wouldn't.
I'm going to go have a cup of coffee and calm down now . . .

John