Official Post From Hawkwind

[Paul Mather]

On Thu, Dec 12, 2002 at 04:04:07PM -0600, Frank Weil wrote:
=> 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.

But this would appear to presume that it is not possible to craft a
taping policy that allows free taping and trading of shows but
prohibit bootlegging.  Clearly, though, lots of bands have done
exactly that, and even enforced those taping policies in the wake
of violations.  Some of the taping policies are very permissive with
respect to live shows that are subsequently officially released.  For
example, the Grateful Dead policy says it is still okay to trade the
same show as one officially released, so long as you don't trade
copies of the actual release (you can trade other seeds of the same
show).  Others are more restrictive.  For example, the Phish policy
states that once a show is officially released, it should no longer
be traded, whatever the seed.  (I hope I am not misstating these
policies.)

Anyway, in these policies there is a clear distinction between
free trading and for-profit trading (selling), with the latter
being expressly forbidden (either directly or indirectly).

I agree that music is Hawkwind's livelihood, but I don't know
if preventing fans from freely trading shows is the best way
of ensuring its longevity.  We'll see...

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
 deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
        --- Frank Vincent Zappa