[atlantaprog] Re: Z-Axis last Sunday (10/31)

Good questions. I have talked to several lawyers about it! In the 80's I used to tape all sorts of things off of the radio while I was at work to use in various sound-art projects. When I discovered this bit and realized I wanted to use it as a "found vocal" ala Byrne/Eno, I made a concerted effort to find out who she was. I wasn't able too. I don't even know which AM radio station she was on. Copyright law is a bit vague on this sort of thing - if she was reading from a script, or if her "sermon" was being played from a tape, then there is indeed a copyright in place for this bit, but if she was just conversing over the radio, there is NOT a copyright (copyright law deals with material that is "fixed" into a permanent form - written, taped, etc.). Incidentally, "copyright" doesn't specifically mean "registered with the copyright office". Copyright is a automatic whenever you "fix" something to a distributable media. If you wrote a poem and made xeroxes for your friends, there is a "copyright" on that poem.

Assuming it is copyrighted, I would be expected to obtain permission and pay a royalty for commercial use of the recording, but since I have no way of determining whether such a copyright exists (and I have made a "good faith" effort), there is no way for me to do that. The consensus amongst everyone I have talked to is that, yes, there is a risk by using her voice like this... but the risk in negligible. The woman said these things back in the early 80s in a different city. The chances that she, or someone who knows her, would ever even hear this song are infinitesimally slim. How many evangelical female ministers do YOU know who are also prog fans??? The only way she might ever hear the tune is if it was to somehow garner some mainstream attention, in which case I would be glad to pay a royalty.

There's also the fact that her words are used in a straight-forward, unaltered way. We are not mocking, or satirizing her. We simply provide an underscore for her words and a wider distribution of her message. It's likely she would have no problem with our use of her words anyway.

We've talked about these issues in depth as a band and decided the artistic integrity of the composition is worth the slight risk.

So... there you have it!


On Nov 4, 2004, at 8:54 AM, <princesssalmacis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hey Allen,

I'm curious about this, how do you use a recording like that? Do you have to find the person and get permission? Sounds interesting.

PEACE
Beth




The last song was Out of Hand, from our upcoming CD. The woman is an AM
radio preacher I recorded in the 80s talking all about lust and
temptation... pretty rich stuff. Wait 'til you hear her on a studio
recording where you can really listen to her story!
AWG


"Challenges are what makes this life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."~Unknown




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