“I want to remix some old jazz”
Friday, August 20th, 2004 at 1:44 pmI regularly get mail like this one:
I want to start creating more enthusiasm in Jazz! What I’d like to know is……. when old tracks, LPs, artists etc are extinct - what’s the situation re copyright etc?
For instance - if I want to remix and modernise some old jazz LP tracks onto CD from mono to stereo - can I do it without worrying about being sued by some modern global organisation who secretly might have the rights etc to royalties from an old label but who don’t make it publicly known! In other words - sitting on their arse with some brilliant vintage tracks but don’t do anything with them……..but we want to!!
What’s the situ? And if one does have to pay a fee regardless of the age of the track - how much would it cost?
As far as I’m concerned, I would have thought that provided one is prepared to reference the original track/ record label (if required) then that in itself should be sufficient PR to satisfy any normal org.
With thanks in advance
Bryan
The US Congress recently passed retroactive laws (failed challenge here (pdf)) that make it pretty much impossible for a piece of art to fall into public domain (I think it’s 70 years after the death of the artist). In the case of music it’s even stickier because the sound recording is under different copyright from the composition itself.
I write about related issues occasionally. (Note especially ‘Clearing Samples‘ and ‘’Where the Samples Are‘.)
It’s definitely a gloomy situation as I’m sure you know all art is based on *something* previously done and the hyper-corporatization of the arts is sucking the air out of creativity and innovation. What’s ‘normal’ and ’sane’ to you and me is harmful to the (perceived) bottom line of the multi-nationals that have been buying up the world’s musical archives.
I’ve occasionally heard of people getting lucky by calling the record companies (especially small indy labels, many of which feature the kind of old jazz recordings you’re talking about) and simply handing over original artwork to remixers — but this is rare.
It’s easy to fight back, we just have to do it. If you’re upset enough you might want to spend 15 minutes checking out Negativeland on fair use and pro-active activities at Downhill Battle.
Peace,
VS
