First things first concerning posts. The most recent posts
from her blog Between the Rock and a Hardplace were put up very quickly indeed.
The posts official title was “Take Me
Anywhere You Want To Go Tonight” Where Truth Resides : Alan Doyle Band in
Peterborough & Great Big Sea in Charlottetown (in progress) 5 July 2013
were about Alan Doyle’s back to back concerts for his own band at the Peterborough's
Little Lake Music Festival and Great Big Sea in Charlottetown PEI. There was lots of gabble about what she wanted
to do and lots of humming and harring about to go or not to go to Great Big Sea
(although I don’t believe there was really any doubt). And yes there was a lot
of trumpet blowing about how hard she tried to get there and her yet for the
hundredth million time VIP seating she had on tickets brought in the presale of
GBS.
Then there was the “bubbling resentment” of the cameraman
stealing her bootlegging opportunities who was telecasting the event rather
than a real sense of celebration on someone else getting something she doesn’t
have the exclusive rights on in the Great Big Sea fandom world. There was nothing about the music in
particular a new song by Alan Doye she had bootlegged and put up on Youtube and
distributed the links by social media. Other than one photo of Alan Doyle and
Sean McCann no mention of any other members of either the Alan Doyle Band or Great
Big Sea or any of the bands or musicians and artists who played at the festival.
She did not attend the shows Alan Doyle did in Croatia and
usually some sickly sweet kind of criticism follows something she did not
attend. According to @lyndahere he "was tired, weary and exhausted". I would have thought Alan Doyle would have been rather refreshed as he
had performed without @lyndahere in his face with her camera and video
recorder. “As those who follow Alan on
Twitter would already know, he arrived in Peterborough (for his Alan Doyle Band
gig on the opening night of the Little Lake Music Festival) via Toronto, coming
there directly from London (UK, not ON), en route from Croatia. And he
would be leaving soon after this show to drive back up to Toronto to catch a
few hours' sleep before flying out early the next morning to make it to Charlottetown
in time for Great Big Sea's first Summer XX Tour show…
He was jet-lagged and
weary when he got to Peterborough but still working as hard as always, treating
this show's mid-afternoon sound check more like a performance, putting on a
show for the several dozen folks who'd arrived early to get good positions all
around the perimeter of the fenced-off VIP area occupying the grass in front of
the stage.
A woman with a toddler
approached him, more requests for the making. Alan took one look at the
little girl balanced on her mother's hip...and a dear, weary man showed
the stuff of which he's made.
What finally pushed me
over the edge into "Yes" was the thought of how exhausted Alan was
going to be by the time he was out on that Charlottetown-via-Croatia/London/Toronto/Peterborough/Toronto
stage. If he was willing to work that hard to make it to the places his music
was leading him, then I could work as hard as I could to be there to see and
hear him make his music”.
The cameraman filming the event and telecasting was more
important than the music and the musicians and artists who played at the event
according to @lyndahere. The ‘camera dude’ as she politely referred to him had
permission to be there and he was doing his job. He probably has a family to
support and the money that job generated in turn generated money for the
community. While I don’t know the details of the telecasting of the event I do
know that is an opportunity for them to advertise their event and to bring money into the
community. It was their first festival and hopefully an opportunity for those who don’t live in
PEI Canada and around the world to see Great Big Sea in concert professionally filmed.
“That access area gave
me a great view of the crowd - which is always enjoyable, often enlightening -
and not at all a bad view of the stage. Except for the fellow running the
big-screens camera, it would have been an excellent view of the stage.
But for the rest of
the show, the view was simply what it was, not so bad when I figured that
Camera Dude was the one making possible for the thousands of folks all the way
back in that huge Big Red Music Fest crowd to see the great show the band was
putting on, a sight I get to see more frequently than most.
Though I am not one
bit sure I would have been anywhere near so generous if it had been my view of
Alan that Camera Dude had been blocking.”
Permission in regards to copyright doesn’t seem to be a hard
concept to understand. To the best of my knowledge @lyndahere has never asked for or
applied for permission to record live performances of Alan Doyle, Great Big Sea or any of their
friends they perform with. Permission is needed to record live concerts under
the Berne Convention and copyright laws in both the US and Canada. It is polite to ask a musician or artist if you can
record their live show.
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (2007) has
produced a pamphlet for children, young people, teachers and parents on
copyright and intellectual property titled “Learn from the Past, Create for the
Future. The Arts and Copyright”. The pamphlet recognises the importance of the arts in children
and young people’s lives, describes copyright not only of others work but their
own work as well and the different types of copyright infringements including
plagiarism and piracy. I refer a lot to resources provided to children and
young people because they describe copyright in an interesting, relevant and easy to
understand way. The resource provides a
glossary, further reading, biography and online resources. It also provides an
example of a permission letter for gaining for those who want to use other people’s
work.
The World Intellectual Property
Organisation (2007) describes the Berne Convention and how works do not have to
be registered to be subjected to copyright protected. They are protected from
the moment they are created. Under the Berne Convention authors works have
rights economic and moral rights. “In
summary, no copyrighted work can be reproduced, translated, adapted, exhibited
or performed in public, distributed, broadcast or communicated to the public
without the permission of its author. This is what is meant by the phrase all
rights reserved found in many works”. Then there are the copyright laws
regarding sound recordings.
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (2007) writes
about permission letters…
“Before using
(copying, adapting, performing, distributing, etc.) a copyrighted work, you
must ask for permission from the author or other right holders. This permission
can usually be requested by letter or e-mail…
Sometimes, the most
difficult part in requesting permission is identifying and finding the contact
details of the current right holders. If the author of the work you want to use
is dead or otherwise transferred his rights, you may have to do a bit of research
to find the current right holders…
There is no way @lyndahere doesn’t know how to contact
either Alan Doyle or Great Big Sea. They then inform people how to write a
letter to ask permission to use specific types of works. There is a copy of a
letter on their site.
In conclusion The World
Intellectual Property Organisation (2007) writes “In general, performers can prohibit the
recording and broadcasting of their live
performances without their consent. They also have the right to prevent, among others, further copying and Internet
transmission of their music recordings. For
example, a band can prohibit fans from videotaping their live performances. They can also prohibit fans from
uploading copies of the band’s album on the
Internet.
Without these rights, performers would not be paid for
their interpretations. If anyone could record
and freely broadcast an artist’s performance
then some people who would have paid for a ticket to attend the performance may prefer to watch the free broadcast.
Recordings copied without the artist’s consent
also do not provide any income to the artist.
If an artist cannot earn income from his interpretations, he will have to make a living with another job and may therefore
perform and record fewer works for us to
enjoy.
In several countries, performers also have rights similar
to authors’ moral rights. These rights protect
performers against the distortion of their performances.
They also allow them to ask that their names be mentioned in connection with their performances”.
Reference
The World Intellectual Property Organisation Learn From The Past, Create The Future The Arts and Copyright 2007
'Great Big Sea closes out Big Red Music Festival with high energy set' published in the Guardian on the 30 June, 2013 at Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Hands were clapping and feet were stomping during a high energy set by Great Big Sea to close out the inaugural Big Red Music Festival Sunday night.
The Newfoundland band, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, took the stage at 9:15 p.m. in front of thousands of screaming fans.
"It's great to be back in Charlottetown," said frontman Alan Doyle between songs. "We've always had a great night out here. Thanks so much for taking care of us."
The band's fondness for P.E.I. is well known. The group's first show outside of Newfoundland was in Charlottetown in 1993.
Before the Newfoundland band took the stage Sunday, audiences were treated to David Myles, Larry McCray and Serena Ryder.
Myles, originally from Fredericton, N.B. but who now calls Halifax home, was up first and the crowd was modest to say the least, but he put on a great show.
Next was McCray, a young bluesman from Magnolia, Ark. who showed the audience what the blues is all about. Unfortunately the crowd was small, but they were treated to some fantastic blues.
Fans began pouring into the city's new event grounds before Serena Ryder took the stage.
Great Big Sea's final set was a closing of three days of music that also included acts such as Our Lady Peace, Hedley and Ludacris.
Indie rock band Metric was supposed to headline Friday's show.
That performance was cancelled due to poor weather.
Jeff Burns, of Cape Breton N.S., said he enjoyed the rest of Friday's show but was disappointed Metric didn't play.
"They made up for it though," he said Sunday, noting that individuals who had a receipt from Friday could return it for free admission to Great Big Sea. "That was a nice gesture since we waited in the rain Friday."
Jarrod Yeo, a Saint John, N.B. resident who is originally from Summerside, said he enjoys returning to the province to "listen to some tunes and catch up with friends."
Yeo said he was looking forward to seeing how the new venue would pan out.
"I think they've got a winner," he said. "The numbers tonight are a true reflection of what this weekend was all about."
RR
