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The first name in Sound
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There are 6 messages in this issue of Spectropop.
Topics in this Digest Number 87:
1. More Bad News
From: Geri & John Clemente
2. Re:all bacharach all the time.
From: alan zweig
3. The Lovely Aimi Macdonald?
From: Lindsay
4. copyrights
From: ELRONBEE
5. Re: More on artist rights and the Beach Boys
From: Andrew Hickey
6. Re: BBs liner notes
From: Dmirich
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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2001 23:55:50 -0500
From: Geri & John Clemente
Subject: More Bad News
I' don't think I like this week at all. I received
word today that another of the artists who contributed
to "Girl Groups" has passed away.
Laura Webb Childress, one of the original Bobbettes,
passed away on January 8th, of complications from
colon cancer. She was 57. Laura and her school
friends, Reather Dixon, Helen Gathers and sisters Emma
and Jannie Pought made Rock & Roll history in 1957
when they sang a song they made up about a teacher in
their school named "Mr. Lee", which netted them a
contract with Atlantic Records while they were in
elementary school and junior high school. The
Bobbettes never repeated the success of "Mr. Lee"
although they had several mild hits during the early
1960s and continued recording into the 80s, sometimes
under the tutelage of Laura's brother Joe. Laura was
instrumental in setting up my interview with The
Bobbettes in 1998. The Bobbettes were known for their
stage antics as well as their superb singing and
songwriting skills. Always a bright and upbeat person,
Laura will be missed by her fans and friends.
John Clemente
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2001 05:40:35 -0500
From: alan zweig
Subject: Re:all bacharach all the time.
"Tobias Bernsand" wrote:
>*Sunset Festival Orchestra: Non-Stop Bacharach 1971
>
>*Tony Dillon Orchestra and Singers: The Greatest Hit
>Songs of Burt Bacharach
>
>.There's nothing wrong with
>the arrangements or vocals, but it's kind of boring that
>the million Bacharach covers LPs found at every record
>fair feature the same songs...
Not that you can just go out and look for it but if you
want a Bacharach cover LP with some of his less familiar
material, keep an eye out for Terry Baxter's double (or
triple?) record set. He does stuff like Loneliness
Remembers.., Don't make me over, Walk little Dolly, Here
where there is love, Go with love, Try to see it my way...
And he does my favourite off-the-beaten path Bacharach
song, namely Nikki. Ed Ames also does Nikki on HIS
all-Bacharach record.
I know there are a bunch of those non-stop records. I
had the Carole King one and I found it way above your
average instrumental record (and this is one area where
I consider myself an accidental expert.)
AZ
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Message: 3
Date: 10 Jan 2001 01:36:28 -0800
From: Lindsay
Subject: The Lovely Aimi Macdonald?
"Tobias Bernsand" wrote:
> Some LPs I've picked up over the latest couple of months
> *Aimi MacDonald and Ronnie Carroll: Promises, Promises
> 1969
Would that be "The Lovely Aimi Macdonald" of "At Last
the 1948 Show"? It was a pre-Python Pythonesque
comedy program (1967) whose cast included two of the
Pythons, Cleese & Chapman. First time I ever saw
"Monty Python" I said, "Hey, great! This is just like
'The 1948 Show!'"
Tobias's message sent me back to a 1948 Show page
(www.pythonet.org/1948show/) where I followed the link
to Aimi's biography. Not surprising at all, it turns
out, that she would be recording "Promises, Promises".
(She's at
www.internet-ireland.ie/power/actor/details/aimimcd.htm)
Lindsay
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 01:32:36 EST
From: ELRONBEE
Subject: copyrights
In a message dated 1/9/01 5:07:28 AM, spectropop writes:
> > The second is that these recordings will *not* be
> > 'indefinitely unavailable' - international copyright
> > law as it currently stands means that the copyright to
> > a recording only lasts 50 years - Elvis' recordings
> > will start going out of copyright in 2004, the Beach
> > Boys' in 2011, the Beatles' in 2012, and so on,
>
> hmmm...if this is true, how is it that MCA (Decca)
> still owns Bing Crosbys "White Christmas", which was
> issued in 1942? It would seem that the copyright would
> have expired in 1992. Perhaps copyrights are
> renewable under some cirumstances?
I thought the copyright law for Europe was 50 years
and the law for the US was 99 years. No?
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2001 00:06:16 -0800 (PST)
From: Andrew Hickey
Subject: Re: More on artist rights and the Beach Boys
> I think we are on the same page here, and
> thank you for your informed and considered comments
Thanks. I agree, we do seem to be on the same page...
> For some
> reason, we tend to think recording artists should
> have some intangible right to their performances,
> yet we don't believe the same of an actor in a film.
The actor wouldn't count as the 'artist' in the same
way - perhaps the director would... and indeed it is
usually expected that a director have a certain level
of control over his/her work.
> just as a group must protect ownership of their
> intellectual property, the owner of the recordings
> must likewise protect its right to market their
> recordings. The idealistic concept that artists
> should have rights over their work simply doesn't
> factor in this practical necessity.
Absolutely. However, I believe that the artists should
still have rights over how their work is used, and
that the rights of the artists to the work are more
important than those of the record company...
> If an artist pays for and makes their own recordings,
> they certainly should have the rights over their
> material, and in fact they do. They always have.
Not quite... most artists are given an advance, which
is a loan, usually (not always) paid back at interest,
but always intended to be paid back, by the record
company. They are then, out of that, expected to pay
for the recordings. It's roughly equivalent to getting
a mortgage, and finding that after you've paid it off
'your' house belongs to the bank...
> Is that not what Dave Clark, Apple, Brother, Bizarre
> etc. did?
All within *very* narrow limits...most (even Bizarre)
were merely imprints controlled by majors. A quote
>from Mike Love - "We said "Well, the only way you're
going to be a record company is if you have your own
distribution, sales and promotion. Just making a
royalty deal with a major record company to distribute
a product is nothing more than a distribution deal for
your production company, so you really have no mastery
over your own destiny. We saw that immediately after
we'd signed it, so we said "Oh shit, we've had it!""
> Isn't that what the Stealth Munchkins is about?
Yeah, except so far there seems to be a singular lack
of massive chart success and financial gain...
> So yes, it would be ideal if artists always owned
> their own work, though I'm not convinced it's practical.
I'm perfectly convinced it's practical. The standard
artist contract could be identical to how it is now,
except that all rights revert to the artist when the
advance has been recouped, with the caveat that the
artist has to agree to licence the work to the label
for a minimum period after reversion...
> Just maybe that artist deal is worth considering
> after all. It must be. After all, artists still sign
> 'em even today - AND with the advice of experienced
> attorneys.
That's because unfortunately the labels are bargaining
>from a position of strength, the artists from one of
weakness (although the person who doesn't write,
arrange etc wouldn't fit into my definition of
'artist'...). If I had the option, I would sign one of
those contracts - because the rights I'd be signing
away are actually financially worth less than nothing
to me at the moment (we haven't yet gone into profit
on our first album...). If, on the other hand, I were
actually in a position to get my music heard and
bought by a reasonable number of people, then I
wouldn't consider it for half a second...
> it's encouraging to fans like me to see dot-com
> ventures by the self-contained indies doing well.
And me too - but Deck and Surf's Up, unlike the other
examples, aren't (or allegedly are not) compensating
the artists whose work they are selling...
> So there may be a sub-market of stuff mastered from
> PD analog copies while the majors continue marketing new,
> copyrighted, enhanced versions.
That was my point - it would be in the *interests* of
the Beach Boys, once ownership was established, to put
these recordings out in the best possible format.
> Isn't that what we all expect the currently disputed
> Hite Morgan set to be? But you're right about Mikey's
> interests - that's what the suit is all about.
Which is why I think the only question should be
whether the surviving band members or Hite Morgan
should receive the royalties. The set will be simillar
whoever puts it out, under whatever imprint.
>As I said I believe we are on the same page here, and
>regardless of any differing opinions, your comments
>are most appreciated, Andrew.
And the same for yours as well.
=====
Subliminal message:
Buy the new Stealth Munchkin album -
http://www.geocities.com/stealth_munchkin
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Message: 6
Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2001 08:26:07 EST
From: Dmirich
Subject: Re: BBs liner notes
Someone wrote:
>In fact, [if the BBs regain control of this music], this
>would make it very much in Mike Love's interests...to
>allow a well-annotated, well packaged issue of these
>recordings in the best possible quality.
Jaime responded:
> Isn't that what we all expect the currently disputed Hite
> Morgan set to be? But you're right about Mikey's interests
> - that's what the suit is all about. The ironic thing is,
> if they were to somehow get the rights and release it
> themselves, guess who would be hired to do the liner
> notes!!!
I don't think it would be Brad Elliot, who Capitol and
the BBs will no longer employ for liner note writing
(look at the notes from the new 2fers). Besides, Mike
Love would have good reason to not want Brad's
participation in any future projects because of the
strong stance against him that Brad has taken over the
years in discussions on the various BB mailing lists and
newsgroups.
Dave Mirich
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