Library of Congress gets a mile of music from Universal

[brownie]

More music is donated to the Library of Congress.

By Universal Music Group this time!

Article in The New York Times today.

[Dave James]

More music is donated to the Library of Congress.

By Universal Music Group this time!

Article in The New York Times today.

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing it. Too bad they can't work something out along these lines to accommodate the Savory collection.

[RDK]

Sounds like they're getting the public (our tax dollars) to digitize and preserve the music for them so that they can later sell it back to us.

[mjzee]

And don't forget this is the gov't that now has possession of these masters. Why presume they'll take good care of this material?

[AllenLowe]

well, they kept the last batch in the World Trade Center - on the roof -

[Chuck Nessa]

Sounds like they're getting the public (our tax dollars) to digitize and preserve the music for them so that they can later sell it back to us.

And they won't have the storage fees.

[JSngry]

And don't forget this is the gov't that now has possession of these masters. Why presume they'll take good care of this material?

Does the LOC have a reputation of being a bunch of slackers?

[sonnymax]

Sounds like they're getting the public (our tax dollars) to digitize and preserve the music for them so that they can later sell it back to us.

And don't forget this is the gov't that now has possession of these masters. Why presume they'll take good care of this material?

well, they kept the last batch in the World Trade Center - on the roof -

And they won't have the storage fees.

Wow. I would have thought such news would be welcome on this board. You know, something along the lines of "Thank goodness. Now we can be assured that these valuable works of art will be preserved rather than lost, damaged, or simply discarded by corporate America." Instead, we get every negative angle imaginable, even the WTC (nice touch, Allen). Monday morning blues, guys?

Okay, I've put on my flame-retardant tighty whities. Let me have it.

[AllenLowe]

hey it's Monday, give me a break.

allright - I mean to say that they were storing it on the tracks at the Columbus Circle subway station.

[Neal Pomea]

"So they will preserve the physical masters for us and make them available to academics and anyone who goes to the library, and Universal retains the right to commercially exploit the masters.”

Only academics and people who can visit the LOC in person? That's FAR from an appropriate mission for them. They should stream it ALL, not just the remainders of what Universal figures it can't sell on iTunes.

[JSngry]

"So they will preserve the physical masters for us and make them available to academics and anyone who goes to the library, and Universal retains the right to commercially exploit the masters."

Only academics and people who can visit the LOC in person? That's FAR from an appropriate mission for them. They should stream it ALL, not just the remainders of what Universal figures it can't sell on iTunes.

That's a nice moral argument, but can you make a parallel legal one?

[Neal Pomea]

Statement from LOC:

http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2011/11-003.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

"This gift is particularly important in the context of the findings of the first comprehensive, congressionally mandated study ever conducted in the U.S. on a national level. It found that only an estimated 14 percent of pre-1965 commercially released recordings were currently available from rights holders. The study also found that of the music released in the U.S. in the 1930s, only about 10 percent of it could be readily accessed by the public."

So much for the supposed superiority of the private sector for guarding heritage. It's an appalling record. Affects my culture quite profoundly.

Edited January 10, 2011 by It Should be You

[AllenLowe]

I agree, even when a lot of it has been re-issued by third parties - it's like hiding the Mona Lisa and letting us look at a grainy photograph instead - we want the masters -

[JSngry]

Statement from LOC:

http://www.loc.gov/t...rce=twitterfeed

"This gift is particularly important in the context of the findings of the first comprehensive, congressionally mandated study ever conducted in the U.S. on a national level. It found that only an estimated 14 percent of pre-1965 commercially released recordings were currently available from rights holders. The study also found that of the music released in the U.S. in the 1930s, only about 10 percent of it could be readily accessed by the public."

So much for the supposed superiority of the private sector for guarding heritage. It's an appalling record. Affects my culture quite profoundly.

Again, a nice moral argument, and one with which I fully concur.

But - where is the legal argument that "They should stream it ALL, not just the remainders of what Universal figures it can't sell on iTunes."?

I'd like to think that there is one, but I'm thinking that as of now, there isn't.

If I'm wrong, I'll be very happy, I assure you!

[sonnymax]

Only academics and people who can visit the LOC in person? That's FAR from an appropriate mission for them. They should stream it ALL, not just the remainders of what Universal figures it can't sell on iTunes.

"Appropriate mission"? Perhaps I don't understand what you're tyring to say, but isn't this how the LOC grants access to all the other music in its collections? Come to think of it, how is this different from the art collections held by all museums, universities, and historical societies? Where in the world can you just stay at home, sit back, and enjoy unfettered access to art that is owned and preserved by someone else?

Edited January 10, 2011 by sonnymax

[AllenLowe]

at my house -

[sonnymax]

Leave the door unlocked. I'll be right there.

[Neal Pomea]

Only academics and people who can visit the LOC in person? That's FAR from an appropriate mission for them. They should stream it ALL, not just the remainders of what Universal figures it can't sell on iTunes.

"Appropriate mission"? Perhaps I don't understand what you're tyring to say, but isn't this how the LOC grants access to all the other music in its collections? Come to think of it, how is this different from the art collections held by all museums, universities, and historical societies? Where in the world can you just stay at home, sit back, and enjoy unfettered access to art that is owned and preserved by someone else?

American Memory Collection. This should be part of the American Memory Collection.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/help/view.html

"Many American Memory collections contain sound recordings, video, high-resolution images, and enhanced text that require special viewers. Most viewers can be downloaded free from vendor sites."

"Where in the world can you just stay at home, sit back, and enjoy unfettered access to art that is owned and preserved by someone else?"

Well, it's now owned and being preserved by the LOC. Not someone else.

Edited January 10, 2011 by It Should be You

[AllenLowe]

the key is under the pitbull.

[RDK]

Considering this is material from 1926-48 that's presumably outlived its "period of profitability," it would be nice if there were some legal mechanism to "donate" this to the public domain - at which point I think we'd all be thrilled to see the LOC preserve it and allow for easy access and/or distribution.

[carnivore]

It's all pretty simple really...either a home is found for metal work, masters etc - and we should be very thankful that the Universal stuff is going to LOC - or, as happened over and over again, the accountants decree that the stuff goes to the tip. And it's theirs and they can do that. That's exactly what happened to the Decca archive in England when the company was taken over by Polygram. Everything was thrown out. An even more enormous problem looms with the destruction of EMI. The vast archive at Hayes, outside London is unmatched, I believe by anything else in the world, including as it does all material from all the British labels controlled by EMI, dating back to before WWI and specimen copies of all of the recordings from labels like RCA that EMI released around the world. Under the present regime in Britain I see no hope for a rescue of this incredible collection.

[Dan Gould]

"Where in the world can you just stay at home, sit back, and enjoy unfettered access to art that is owned and preserved by someone else?"

Well, it's now owned and being preserved by the LOC. Not someone else.

If you understand the LOC to "own" this music, you should re-read the article.

[Christiern]

Let us by all means express our unhappiness, even dismay. The LofC is going to digitize and preserve great sounds that form an important part of our musical heritage! I shed silent tears when I heard this news—future generations will be cursed by the mere fact that these priceless recordings will be preserved. Oh, how happy we all were in 2008, when we learned that irreplaceable audio masters—an important part of the Universal library—had been reduced to molten metal and ashes. I did a little celebratory dance and my high was still intense when the news turned out to be wrong. I found myself wondering if there might not be some benevolent arsonist lurking about to make our dreams come true. Alas, there wasn't, but hope has been renewed and we can only fervently pray that the LofC botches up the job and succeeds in destroying this material.

Of course, one cringes at the thought of considerable amounts of tax money being spent on all this noise—money that could have been used to kill and maim innocent people on the other side of the world, money that could have been used in the name of glorious freedom for white folks everywhere.

Ah, but I transgress....

Damn you, Library of Congress!

[AllenLowe]

why don't they give it to me?

[ejp626]

I have mixed feelings about this, because it seems the LoC will put incredible resources into preserving and digitizing this collection -- and that's great -- but then Universal can still sit on it and refuse to release it. And for that matter, they may well lobby to have copyright extended over and over. I personally think it is appropriate that they transition it into the public domain, but that'll happen when pigs fly. I don't think it is a particularly good "business model" from the public's perspective.