[linux-audio-user] Cactus Data Shield copy controlled cd's

Daniel James daniel at mondodesigno.com
Fri Jul 4 08:25:01 EDT 2003


> 	I'm not defending the record industry but Bo Diddley signed those
> contracts.  So did Chuck Berry.

I suppose that's why Chuck always insisted on being paid in full, in 
cash, before he would go on stage. There's a famous story about a 
promoter in the UK having to push banknotes one at a time under the 
dressing room door. 

> 	Will Bach be upset that Chuck Berry lifted complete sounds from
> his work at times?

I don't think the lift was quite so complete, or close in time. To 
take the example of Bo Diddley, he would have been able to hear 
plenty of derivative music coming out of his radio while he was still 
working. On one level that's flattering, on another it must be 
upsetting - especially if the sound-alike bands are getting all the 
attention and making all the money.

>  Every musician uses pieces of everything he's
> heard from the time he was born.

Absolutely. There's a difference between influence and plagiarism 
though.

> Music as a whole is part of a cultural commons but my creativity
> in writing a particular song is not.

I'm not arguing that artists shouldn't be able to earn a living.

The general problem of 'intellectual property' seems to apply across 
many arts. Disney, for example, had very few orginal ideas, but is 
now keen to keep all the folk stories it borrowed in an 
ever-extending copyright envelope. Just parody or otherwise adapt 
Mickey Mouse, and see how far a defence of creativity gets you in 
front of the judge.

> Granite is pretty much common
> property too but I don't own any of Michaelangelo's sculptures.

Those 60's British musicians weren't exactly starting with the raw 
stone - more like taking a mould of the sculpture. I think the 
imitation for the most part was sincere, and done out of respect, but 
this discussion was originally about proper attribution.   

> I live in Mississippi and I've met
> many of the still living Delta blues players.  Trust me, they're
> not very depressed (or repressed) either. 

Glad to hear it. I think the Bonzo's lyric was actually a joke :-)

> In my opinion, anyone
> who has been addicted to heroin and whose son has done a one-way
> nose dive out of a fourth story window has a right to play the
> blues. 

I think Clapton's career as a bluesman was well established by the 
time those things happened.

Cheers

Daniel



More information about the Linux-audio-user mailing list