David Ayers

He's talking about Boulez but could be anyone - George Lloyd maybe? Though I think he did try twelve-tone.

I guess really that streaming has made this discussion mostly obsolete.

So if I follow the argument correctly, the best way to stop other people ripping off musicians and composers is to do it yourself. So I can get free music and end evil in the world all without leaving my PC. I'm a saint.

Re. Steve Coleman, more trouble to play that stuff than to assimilate it, probably. Heard him 20-odd years ago and seems not to have changed much. Hear it and move on, I'd say. Re. The discussion of arts journalism. Really? Does it matter?

That's the other Mr Coleman...

Heh heh. I reckon the introduction of unlimited copyright could get Greece out of some of its current problems...

Nice phrasing! Haa haaaaaaaa

I'm amazed how many folks don't grasp that the laws were framed to protect the intellectual property (the song) and not the performance. Amazed. That is the whole point. Not least this was intended to prevent jazz musicians from using improvisation (variation) to claim rights in a piece. People here steal music, notably the legally well-protected intellectual property in the composition. That's fine, but it has to not come with the hypocritical displays of sel righteousness.

These sets cost about the same as a sandwich and coffee. So, yes, you can make a sandwich and coffee yourself. Or you can pay someone else to do it. Either way we are talking about pocket money.

That's what Mick Jagger told me when I dropped 10 pence in his hat when he was busking on the subway the other day. Renee Fleming was trying to agree with him I think, but hunger had made her too weak to speak. Apparently Shostakovich thought the whole state-funded system of the arts worked brilliantly. Government to the rescue.

The ethics of the beer coaster collection are more arcane than is commonly thought.

And in fact inclusion of the books would be the one thing that would justify making this available only as a set, not as individual discs.

Thanks for posting. Nice surprise in there with Tales Out Of Time!

Aesthetics also come into it with issues properly licensed for the US - I *hate* the look of Collectables and the two-LP-on-one-cd format. I would never go near them! Same for Applause. Yuk.

Those cheap box sets are not what they appear. Really they have got people used to spending quite a lot on CDs. Each purchase costs maybe 50 or 100 euros. Actually quite expensive. And while the majors do fewer significant new issues than ever before, the independents still churn out more new stuff than anyone can keep up with, as do the orchestra own labels. It looks different now than ten years ago, but healthy enough, I'd say.

Well... Works published in 1962 or before are now PD. Works published in 1963 or later benefit from an extra 20 years of protection. So if there were any truth in the idea that PD is undermining the remastering programs of the majors we would see an absence of titles from 1962 and before but a continuing orgy of re-releases from 1963 onwards. That's not what we are seeing, is it? Correct me if I am wrong on the year that the change took hold, but that is basically it, isn't it? Illegal downloads are the villain, but people here who admit to illegal downloading and copying prefer to focus on Andorra and Yurop. It's called scapegoating.

On top of all of this, let's add that the "owners" of music that is PD in Europe or elsewhere no longer "own" it, so if you imagine that the majors are fulfilling contracts that have expired by paying artists on material they sell in Europe you can be sure you are wrong. EMI, as was, did start to issue 4 cd sets to rival avid etc and some are still around, but they seem to have stopped for now and my suspicion is that there is no money in it for them according to their models. It isn't even worth reprinting most of the RVGs, apparently, which sold for much less than any Fresh Sounds rarity.

Bit tight. Why not sell the discs from the 88 set individually?

I've also lost interest in old music.

Oh! Sorry to hear that!

Oh I only read the text.

According to this "definitive history", free jazz is an exclusively American phenomenon. No nasty furriners. Looks like an extension of Ken Burns style myth-making. Pity.

Well I hope you weren't there today - I was, after a work event yesterday. May 1is Labor Day and *everything* is closed except restaurants. So book and music shopping was out, as were the museums. Oh well. Glad you had a better time than I did this morning...

Google shows that the campus newspaper had an article on this incident, stating that Childs was arrested, but it seems to have been removed. An article about a 'transient' attempting to steal a sweater remains safe, thankfully. Looks like a drink problem http://www.localcrimenews.com/city-arrests/arrest-details/?arrest=9314179

The Santa Cruz and Garden singles are obligatory purchases for everyone who doesn't have them and has asked for their reissue. They are released as singles to realise more revenue and so as not to compete with the new issues programme. I should guess. It is a market test too. Either people back CD reissues of stellar titles or they don't. My guess is these will sell well despite. It may be that the reason for splitting things is that previous doubles have struggled, who knows.