Official Post From Hawkwind

[Frank Weil]

>From: Andrew Garibaldi<Deadearnest at BTOPENWORLD.COM>

>It probably stems from most record companies' historic complete inability to
>(or be willing to) distinguish between a bootlegger and a
>counterfeiter/pirater

I agree with this, and I want to add something from a different perspective.

DISCLAIMER: I have *no* inside information to the band's reasonings, so do not read
too much into the rest of this message!

It is often the case that business decisions are made from the perspective of what
is required to have a legal footing in a sometimes-seemingly-unrelated matter. I am
not very familiar with English law, but at least in America we have a legal system,
not a justice system. (The legal system would like to have you believe that they are
the same thing, but they are not.) The legal system says that certain conditions
have to be met in order to pursue a legal action.

For example, a railroad puts up crossing gates at sidewalks. They do not really stop
someone from walking around/under them, and it costs them extra money for equipment,
maintenance, etc. However, it allows them to have a chance if someone is stupid
enough to walk in front of a moving train and get hit. The railroad can argue that
they made a diligent effort to warn people and keep them off the tracks, and the
person who got hit had to specifically circumvent those efforts.

Another example would be a business having a guard at each entrance to check bags on
entry for weapons. While no one expects the guards to strip-search everyone, and
everyone knows that they could sneak a weapon in without a whole lot of trouble, the
business is making some effort. If someone gets shot on the business property and
gets sued by the victim for failing to protect him/her, then the business has a
basis to claim that it has preventative measures in place, so the attacker had to
knowingly and deliberately conceal the weapon. It is a lot harder to prove
negligence on the part of the business in these cases.

What does this have to do with Hawkwind (read the disclaimer at the top again)? I
could easily see that if Hawkwind does not make this pronouncement, then it would be
much more difficult to stop true bootlegging through legal channels and to collect
restitution. Given that their music is their livelihood, I think it is in their best
interest to protect it any way that they think is best. It's all too easy to sit on
the sidelines and say what the band should or shouldn't do. Maybe we should give
them the benefit of the doubt due to their many years on the inside of the music
business, the multitude of legal issues they have been through, and the amount of
money they surely have lost due to illegitimate releases.

Personally, I don't listen to Hawkwind because of their taping policy. I listen to
them because I enjoy their music. This won't change that one bit.

Frank

--
As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual
certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human
life -- so I became a scientist.  This is like becoming an
archbishop so you can meet girls.           -- Matt Cartmill
============================================================
      Frank Weil | Frank.Weil at motorola.com
   phone: (847) 576-3110 | fax: (847) 576-3280