Posted by Whalley Greg on 01/15/07 04:37

Tom wrote:
> "Greg Carr" <gregpcarr@yahoo.ca> wrote in message
> news:1168829895.566038.249640@a75g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> >
> > Tom wrote:
> >> "Greg Carr" <gregpcarr@yahoo.ca> wrote in message
> >> news:1168827932.851421.162810@a75g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> >> > ---OTTAWA - Ever taped or PVRed a show so you can watch it later,
> >> > otherwise known as time shifting?
> >> >
> >> > Or ripped a CD so you could listen to it on your MP3 player, called
> >> > format shifting?
> >>
> >>
> >> I have friends whose jobs are to attend jazz, blues, rock, hip-hop, folk and
> >> any
> >> other ideas of music that come to mind, and write down the songs, the riffs
> >> and
> >> the intentions to be reported back to SOCAN.
> >
> > (The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of
> > Canada)-SOCAN
> >
> >>
> >> For instance, if Neil Young is in town and sings more than 3 bars of Bob
> >> Dylan's
> >> "Like a Hurricane". He writes it down and Neil has to pay Bob Dylan.
> >>
> >> There are spies everywhere, and my friend is a part-timer who (of course) has
> >> an
> >> encyclopaedic knowledge of contemporary music. He's amazing.
> >
> > That's great. I have no problem with this sort of activity. Neil Young
> > of course makes lots of money and if he plays some Pearl Jam during a
> > concert or vica-versa then he is supposed to pay a fee. This is a
> > matter of routine for bars and restaurants that use recorded music to
> > entertain paying customers. I've heard of this happening in the past
> > before. Thanks for the input.
> >
>
> But it doesn't just happen to high profile people like Sarah McLachlan, Neil
> Young and others.
>
> What pisses me off, and this pisses off most people who make their living on
> music (I don't anymore) is that there is a huge fund based on a sur-tax levy on
> cassettes, CD-RW's and other stuff that amounts to $millions. It's supposedly
> held in trust by SOCAN but they have never found a way to distribute it to the
> artists. They need to clear that up before they tackle the "downloading"
> problem.
>
> Most up-and-coming musicians side-step the record labels, produce their own shit
> and give it away on-line for free. Just to gain exposure.
>
> On-line downloading is the end of the big record labels. The cheesy bastards
> who Joni Mitchell recently said caused her to stop making music. She hasn't cut
> a record in over a decade.

I have her Greatest Hits CD and I play it at work but I found the later
releases of hers to be unmemorable. I've heard the distribution
criticism of SOCAN before but don't know enough about the issue to have
an opinion. The labels still seem to be making lots of money and some
ppl actually pay for ringtones and downloaded music. I've yet to meet a
homeless person or a warehouse worker who used to work as an executive
of a label.

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