Friday 27 May 2011

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

This morning I received the following email from Mediafire:

Thanks for past help, Jodi & co... Thanks in advance for removing the five files listed below, including albums by Kookie Freeman and the Graham Dalley Dozen, and posted at http://loungetastic.blogspot.com/


http://www.mediafire.com/?3icujaekk01ue81
http://www.mediafire.com/?tu8wy3dt898v31f
http://www.mediafire.com/?xsaygygyb2gc1ag
http://www.mediafire.com/?7p23r6q1w9516pe
http://www.mediafire.com/?6uqtub435tx5k33


These files/folders contain unauthorized mp3 files of material owned by Chappell Music. They have not been licensed for free downloads R.L. Smith I am acting on a good faith belief that the above items infringe on intellectual property rights and copyright, and under penalty of perjury state authorization to request the removal of these links. You might instruct bloggers/uploaders who need further information to download:
www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf

Further information is also available at
http://www.websheriff.com/websheriff/outlaws.htm


This is a post-only mailing. Replies to this message are not monitored or answered.

Now that these files have been taken down you'll obviously have to go into your nearest record store and stock up on all the Kookie Freeman, Manuel and Graham Dalley CDs that are littering the shelves!

It's a shame that because of our friendly little Web Sheriffs like Jodi "and co", this music will never be heard by more than a handful of us lucky enough to own the records.

I think that's probably it for me now, it all seems a little pointless...

19 comments:

KEITH HORNER said...

How true! It also means that these artists will be totally forgotten as no one stocks new albums by them, and the music has an interest mainly to those who hear it via the net. It would be of interest to find out just how much "money" the so called copyright holders think they are losing. i doubt they can quantify it!

Sam said...

What a pisser. Have heard so much great stuff via this site that I never would have found otherwise. Thanks for all your hard work up till now, its been very much appreciated! Hope this CAN continue in some fashion...

loungehistorian said...

I'm sorry to hear this news. I have always enjoyed your blog and the music you have shared. It has been wonderful.

Please reconsider your decision because I'm sure lots of people will be saddened.

There are other ways - have you thought of having a private blog, where you can only invite who you want to. There is a good one I belong to and will be happy to supply any details if you want to message me privately.

Kindest regards P

Ian G said...

You are clearly feeling a little disturbed by the copyright issue which has affected your site
but I thought a little solidarity was called for.

As a fellow music blogger & fan/follower of your site, I just wanted to let you know that I also
received some kind of copyright notice today regarding one of my posts, first time so far in fact.
Naturally I complied by removing the offending link in order to appease the aggrieved party,
whoever they may be??

I blame neither blogger nor mediafire for taking this kind of action as it's clear that they have certain
legal obligations to follow in order not to fall foul of the law. Their very survival depends upon
them acting when requested to do so by any copyright holders & that's the point, 'when requested to
do so' which suggests that unless asked, they'd rather leave us bloggers alone.

So fair enough, if some publisher or other is out there & actively seeking to stop file sharing,
so be it. I can't really see what they hope to gain. There's certainly no loss of revenue on
otherwise unavailable material & let's face it, the majority of file sharers would never buy most of the
material they download anyway, another important point.

As a former record buyer, it was only ever possible to acquire a fairly limited selection of material
on a modest income per annum.
So we've all been borrowing, copying or just merely 'listening to' material we'd otherwise never
own for years. Where's the harm in that? There's clearly little or no loss of income going on
& never was. The majority of casual music fans still continue to buy their small amounts of
product per year & probably always will.

So my message to you is simply, carry on! Don't lose heart over what is essentially a trifling issue.
Our loss is no-one's gain. Let this trivial interference be an example of how petty, not to mention desperate,
the music industry is.

There are numerous examples out there of flagrant file sharing of the very latest music which is surely
a more serious breach of copyright & affects contemporary artists' income. Surely that should be the focus
of their attention if anything?

Since us specialists are dealing largely in music from several decades ago which would otherwise be forgotten,
I think it's best to let the people judge for themselves who is harming who!

Hope these comments are of some help & remember, keep on...

IVG, DJ, blogger & music lover.

DonHo57 said...

Since following your blog and others the past few years, I have actually purchased LPs and cassettes at thrift stores and music shops that I heard here first, not that it helps an artist at that point, as well as reissues when I find them. But I have disocovered music I might not have otherwise, music that truly entertains and pleases and tickles my fancy, which I think the Kookie Freemans and hundreds of other artists long forgotten would want and appreciate.

So you and others like you, I believe, provide a wonderful service for these artists of past and present that the 'sheriffs' of the internet just don't get. Thanks for all the great music and information you share, and keep your chin up.

SnuffyPuff said...

I too am sad to see this blog go...My generation has missed out on such a great wealth of music not once, but twice. Ive heard so many great songs and versions of songs that are relegated to the dusty LP's and boxes in peoples basements that will be lost to time. I too am interested to find out how the copyright holders will release this music so we can purchase it. The Apple/iTunes model isnt going to work with wonderful music like this competing with the Britney and Gaga world in which we live.

Thank you for all the work and blogging you have give us. It makes me happy to know that there are others out there with the same passion.

Armpit Studios said...

What about other online storage options? A .Mac (sorry, I can't stand that they changed it to MobileMe) account gives you 10g of disk space or more. But I'm sure their legal team is even more aggressive than those from these file sharing sites. Or what about hosting on your own machines? How many downloads do some of these files get? If it's no more than a couple dozen, I'm sure your ISP won't care about a surge in bandwidth. Just throwing out options.

Broken Sword said...

This is a very sad day indeed. It was " In Flight Entertainment", which brought back to me the music I first heard as a child in the 60's. This blog opened up the door to an Aladdin's Cave of Musical Wonder. I never knew there were so many good blogs out there, with bloggers willing to share. Like DonHo57, I too have bought the L.P's I heard here, when I could find them! If anyone has or is starting a private blog, I would be more than happy to become a member. We need to share this music to keep it alive!

Take heart,

Love

Sheila

Baz said...

Thanks for all your work in keeping this music alive, and a big raspberry to the copyright holders who seem determined to extinguish it.

brianbrora said...

Before you jump to any conclusions, or take any decisions, may I suggest that you nip over to ''And Your Bird Can Swing' and have a good read obout what's going on
http://and-your-bird-can-swing.blogspot.com/

MrDave said...

Thanks again for all the great music. It's just ridiculous that out of print music can't be shared; I agree that exposure to these artists can only encourage sales of other albums that may be commercially available.

I also hope that this great community can continue somehow. The forum idea mentioned on the AYBCS blog linked above seems like a viable option since the blogoshere is now poisoned. Hope that you and others keep their doors open to at least facilitate the discussion of alternatives.

Anyway, THANKS AGAIN!!
MrDave

MrDave said...

.

The End of History said...

Please don't give up, I've discovered such great music on your blog.

grey74 said...

This is such a great blog. The information and music you bring to scores of people is invaluable. I really honestly can't believe that the rights holders to the above named files would be digging around the internet to find out who is sharing them. If anything they should be happy someone cares enough to keep those records alive. For if it wasn't for blogs like this I would have no idea who many of these artists are, since I wasn't alive when many of these records were first out. Many thanks go out for this blog. I hope it doesn't discourage you from posting more. Also I suppose it wouldn't hurt to find out who exactly was offended by the post, and find out what their motivation is for taking it down. If they are truly out of print, what are they losing revenue wise by them being posted here, and even if they were in print, even if one person following this blog went and bought a record, they just made a sale from someone they probably would have never had.

nlgbbbblth said...

I know the feeling. :( Keep up as long as you can. I see that Ebaywise was the dude responsible for the last few DMCAs on Spiral.

D said...

Truly sorry to see you go. I hope that you find some way ( as other similar sites have) to re-invent yourself and start another blog. If the fabulous music you posted was available for sale and you were infringing on a serious amount of income ( or even any income) I could see their point. But the fact is that the only thing you are doing is spreading the word and the music of thse artists and keeping them alive rather than the eternity of obscurity....

Anonymous said...

Carrying on about copyright while they continue drifting into obscurity. Music publishing houses are just greedy scumbags, as they have always been.

Clint's archive said...

Just found your blog, and how brilliant it is, love this old material. My friend, do not be put off by these people, as someone has said on here already, think if the tons of latest music out there now, this is where people should be looking to enforce... complete arseholes if they think that trying to put a block on these old titles is going to save the music industry. Just ignore them, and post away, tell them what they want to hear and simply re-post, these people have their priorities completely tits up..

Anonymous said...

The record labels should be handing you cash for promoting this style of music. As demand gets built by people being able to hear it again, as this could build demand for reissues on vinyl and CD. I lust after nice vinyl copies of those Lenny Dee UK MCA titles, those Pye orchestral classics, the EMI Studio Two and the excellent, superior UK Decca PFS titles with the better sound than the US Marketed London versions.