I'll have more to say about this in a future post, but it appears that the recording made during the San Diego Symphony's reading of In Winter will be blasted with a white noise track in order to render it "unsuitable for broadcast." Of course, I already signed an agreement stating I wasn't going to try to broadcast or publish the recording anyway -- I'd just like a copy for personal use: study and promotion. So this doesn't affect you, the listener, but the implications for composers and performers are unfortunate, as this seems to place a wedge into this critical relationship.
At any rate, there will be more later. However, since this treads closely to a very interesting blog post by Nico Muhly that got a lot of press coverage, I'll just link to it here. The comments are worth reading, too.
AAHHGGG. Chinary also had thsi experience. He needed a good recording after being nominated for the Pulitzer. Seriously, why wouldn't an orchestra want their recording the submitted one for this honor? I really do not get it.
ReplyDeleteI think it's time for a broad rethinking of what "fair use" means. Waivers can and should be granted for personal use. Some musicians fear losing potential income if a recording winds up in a film or other commercial vehicle. Of course, the waiver I would sign would forbid that kind of use, but there would be a remote chance that a copy I've sent to someone for perusal gets misused without my knowledge. I think that's why they're using the noise track.
ReplyDeleteI just think the chances of that happening are incredibly remote, and to pollute the product and hamstring its primary purpose (as Nico writes: "to send a copy to my mom") because of a remote nefarious possibility seems pointless and wasteful.