Elvis Costello distances himself from FBI warning

[seemslikeadream]

30/09/2004 - 11:44:37

British rocker Elvis Costello is so appalled by the FBI piracy warning that appears on his new album - he's printed a disclaimer distancing himself from it on each CD.

...

Near the FBI's seal on copies of Delivery Man, which was released last week, is Costello's own comment, which reads: "This artist does not endorse the following warning. The FBI doesn't have his home phone number, and he hopes that they don't have yours."


http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=119221514&p=yy9zzzzzx

[RobertDevereaux]

1. Good for Elvis...

Kick against the pricks!

[Kolesar]

2. "I never thought they'd put me in the Goon Squad"

What is the FBI message, anyway?

[ILeft]

3. I can't copy it to show you...

...lest I be subject to a $250,000 fine and 5 years in prison.

[saveus]

4. Link to article with seal...

http://www.dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040722/ENT04/407220313/1111

[mac56]

5. He never said he was a stool pigeon

He never said he was a diplomat
Everybody is under suspicion
But you don't want to hear about that

[fsbooks]

6. I think I may buy this one.

I also have some friends who might like a copy. :-)

[Minstrel Boy]

7. Cuz each time I feel it slipping away, just makes me wanna cry.

What's so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding?

[Tempest]

8. Boycott record companies who use this seal

But the RIAA stressed that this is a voluntary campaign - record companies have final say whether they slap the FBI seal onto their CDs, unlike packs of cigarettes, which must include those dire surgeon general's warnings.

[natrat]

9. i bought a nora jones cd

and put it in the pc to copy for my sister and it would not play in the computer. I hope that coppying a cd for a friend is not against the law. I understand making 10,000 coppies and selling them is sleazey and i do feal for entertainers who are being ripped off. Anything to do with asscroft is suspect.

[Tempest]

10. Even one copy is illegal

New CDs have anti-copying schemes built in.

You need to get CD software which bypasses the schemes.

I use the latest version of Nero to make copies to take on the road.

[Optimus Primestein]

28. This is still unclear

The way the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) is written, bypassing a copy-prevention scheme to make even a single copy (for personal use, or backup purposes) is illegal. But this has not been tested in court, as far as I'm aware. It runs directly against the "fair use" provisions of copyright law that HAVE BEEN upheld in court back in the days of VHS v. Betamax, and again during the cassette tape days. So if/when the "personal copy for backup" case makes it to court, either the court will have to go against legal precedent from those 1980s cases, or it will have to find at least part of the DMCA to run counter to existing case law.

BTW - any shiny disc with a built-in copy-prevention scheme is not properly a "compact disc." ISO standards that define "compact discs" do not include copy-prevention trickery.

[progressivebydesign]

12. We're a pro-musician family... we don't copy..

We don't copy CDs for friends or family, because it takes money from the artists each time. We also decline offers of copied CDs from friends... The only exception for us is that we'll copy for personal use, have one in the car, one in the house. Or will listen to a copy to decide if we want to buy it. I don't advocate getting copies from friends instead of buying. If you want to check it out, then buy your own copy, I think that's okay.

I legall download and pay for songs in the internet if I don't want an entire CD.

[JLucas4092]

13. THANK YOU!

As a musician and someone who works in the music industry, trust me, it's frustrating right now. People don't realize that the artists are the ones being hurt. Not the big name ones like Elvis, but the up-and-comers. People keep saying they're doing this to strike back at the RIAA. WHY?!? The RIAA is gonna get it's money, the musicians are the ones being hurt.

[Tommy_Douglas]

15. That's not completely true...

Plenty of up and coming bands enjoy exposure that comes from music file sharing.

Many indie record labels had very strong numbers last year and again this year. In fact Vinyl sales rose by something like 20% last year. (Got that from an email from www.insound.com)

I personally won't buy an album unless I can listen to it and a lot of the music I enjoy doesn't see the light of day on the radio, or MTV etc...

[chenGOD]

18. How much more vinyl was produced last year than the year before?

Vinyl sells well right now to non-DJs cause it has a bit of a "cachet" right now with "indie kids".
And while it's true that many bands enjoy exposure from file sharing, how much of that exposure turns into sales for the bands?

I know I try to buy as much music as my budget will allow (I dunno, about 5-10 albums a month (more if the cash flow is good)), and yes I do download music, but I don't try and justify it as anything but stealing. Although I have been trying to limit myself to live shows/dj mixes/totally out-of-print records, there are still quite a few easily available tracks on my hard drive.

Lots of places you can listen to records, including record shops, assuming you live in a metropolis at all. Otherwise, the artist/label sites often offer up samples...

Anyhow, while I'm not totallt disputing your original point about exposure, I often wonder about how much benefit it gives to the artists.

[mac56]

17. I admire your loyalty.

My problem is that it's nearly impossible to hear the kind of music I'm inclined to purchase via mainstream channels. Not all of us have the time or desire to search for and play countless thirty-second snippets of songs from various websites. Hanging out in record shops was how I used to do it, but try to find an old-fashioned record shop in a megamall anymore.

Suggestions?

[progressivebydesign]

21. That is a tough question..

.. many of the bands we know and like are not mainstream, either. If the band does not have some clips on their site, or have a way to pay to download, it puts you in a bind. I guess the days of real radio, that played everything are gone.. aren't they?

As I said in my earlier post, I will borrow a copy from a friend, if they think I might like the band's CD.. then I will purchase it for myself. It's a pain.. but if you can't buy the downloads online, I'm not sure where you'd turn. I think the indie labels are good about having clips on their site.. aren't they?

Has anyone started an indie pay-to-download-legally site?

[chenGOD]

25. You can try college radio...

places like KUCI.ORG are great, they do streaming webcasts and play all sorts of music.

And yes indy pay-to-download sites have been around for a long time. They all get bought up though. mp3.com was the start (they offered free and pay downloads), but that site was osld and started up again as only free downloads.

Here's a link comparing a few sites: http://www.computeractive.co.uk/features/1156606

[politicat]

14. Thus, indie labels, iTunes and the like.

I'd pretty much given up on CDs, but this kills it. I'm done. The RIAA and the FBI can take their labels and fold them till they're all sharp corners and shove them where the sun don't shine.

Elvis will get my money... via iTunes.

Pcat

[progressivebydesign]

11. He's my absolute favorite... all time favorite. Good for him!!

I think he would prefer we were not copying his CDs, thereby hurting his livelihood.. I think he objects to the heavy handedness of the FBI.

[Kolesar]

19. mine too

He was one of my favorites in a past decade. I think his music has aged much better than his contemporaries such as the B-52s or even Talking Heads. That makes him my all time favorite musician.

[progressivebydesign]

22. Yeah.. Elvis has definitely transcended time...

I still listen to his music from the 80's, and enjoy it.. but I hear in his new things how much he's grown.. as I have. The CD, 45, was absolutely his best... one of the few CDs I can listen to end to end.

[Kolesar]

23. I will have to get to the record store for that one

Thanks for the recommendation. I must admit I don't buy many CDs any more. I listen to public radio or a Canadian alt rock station that comes in. There was a time when friends of mine and I would make a big deal out of excursions to the used record stores and then spend the rest of the evening listening to what we bought.

I just "discovered" internet radio. WOXY-FM in Cincinnati is worth a listen.

[flobee1kenobi]

16. According to the RIAA

The money you give the cashier for the CD buys the right for you to use the disk according to the rules they have set in place
-Thats not YOUR cd, you're just renting it

[Occulus]

20. that's one of the biggest problems I have with the system

You are buying a *license* to hear/use what's on the CD, and you're buying the media itself. Every license agreement (which, by the way, you are NOT free to negotiate for your own best interests- it's a one-way, non-negotiable contract) contains provisions that the license may be revoked at any time, for any reason, yadda yadda yadda.

Our copyright laws really, really suck.

[mahina]

27. If you buy an original painting, you can't copy it....

You buy the right to own it and enjoy it, view it, hide it in the closet, wear it, but
the artist owns the right to reproduce it unless you negotiate to buy that right.
For what its worth.
Musicians and painters and other artists make life worth living (to me anyway)

[JohnOneillsMemory]

24. Zappa put disclaimers on his records when the PMRC started labelling

records with warnings about profanity. PMRC stands for Parents Music Resource Center which was a group of US Senator's wives led by Tipper Gore who decided they would impose their personal moralizing on the entire country through their husband's political offices.

This is what he put on his 1986 album 'Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention' which had audio from his own testimony before Congress sampled and mixed into his Synclavier compositions---

"WARNING/GUARANTEE:

This album contains material which a truly free society would neither fear nor suppress.

In some socially retarded areas, religious fanatics and ultra-conservative political organizations violate your First Amendment Rights by attempting to censor rock & roll albums.

We feel that this is un-Constitutional and un-American.
As an alternative to these government-supported programs (designed to keep you docile and ignorant). Barking Pumpkin Records is pleased to provide stimulating digital audio entertainment for those of you who have outgrown the ordinary.

THE LANGUAGE AND CONCEPTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE GUARANTEED NOT TO CAUSE ETERNAL TORMENT IN THE PLACE WHERE THE GUY WITH THE HORNS AND POINTED STICK CONDUCTS HIS BUSINESS.

This guarantee is as real as the threats of the video fundamentalists who use attacks on rock music in their attempt to transform America into a nation of check-mailing nincompoops (in the name of Jesus Christ).

If there is a hell, its fires wait for them, not us."

[chenGOD]

26. I still remember from Jello's "No More Cocoons" spoken word album...

He's asking audience members about which artist said some ridiculous statement supporting the PMRC and some goof yells out "Frank Zappa" and Jello was just like "where have you been man...."