Rickyokie
February 22nd, 2003, 07:12 PM
I have'nt posted in a long time, but I wanted to pass on a letter I recieved, ... this is from a correspondence, I have had with Sound Choice director/General Manager Tom Turner. Even though this coversation was about CAVS technology... it is ideaologically the same thing as what MTU is doing..
ADMIN NOTE: Read my second post below before reading these letters from Sound Choice.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
From Sound Choice
Tom Turner - General Manager
2/19/03
To Rick Berry
XXX-XXX-XXXX
rse@tah-usa.net
Thank you for taking the time to write, and please excuse my slow response. I have been out of town for the past two week at a series of trade shows.
The issue of putting music on hard drives is a very complex one. Certainly we at Sound Choice understand the desirability of that for a KJ - the portability, ease of use, inventory protection, and so forth. But there is an extremely significant issue that has not yet been addressed by the management of CAVS, or any of the other hard-drive suppliers.
That issue, very plainly, is the inability and/or unwillingness of these manufacturers to protect the music contents from being copied. The other issue is the ability of anyone to load a set of songs on multiple CAVS units.
You mentioned that you currently own two systems, and that you do twelve shows. Now you are buying your first CAVS unit, which you will get pre-loaded with music on the hard drive.
I am assuming that you will buy a second CAVS unit at some time in the future, for your second system.
When you buy your second unit, do you have to purchase another set of the music software, or will you load the same music from your first unit onto the second unit?
Does your purchase agreement with CAVS permit you to make unlimited copies of the one set of music that came with your original machine?
Do you have a release letter form the music manufacturer, explicitly giving you permission to make copies of your original music purchase?
I am sure that you also realize how easy it is to duplicate the contents of a hard drive. I also know that CAVS provides their customers with instructions on how to load their own music on the CAVS units. There are two very fundamental issues with the capability to do this.
The first is that it is completely illegal. Copyright law (for all copyrighted materials - books, music, artwork, etc.) expressly prohibits the use of copies for ANY commercial use. That means that a copy -either onto a disc or a hard drive - cannot be used for any commercial purpose. A copy cannot be sold, given away as a promotional item, played on a for hire or promotional basis, and so forth.
The second issue is even for ethically fundamental, and that is the protection of the KJs themselves. Hard drive system manufacturers do not care about the sales of the music - they are only interested in selling the hardware. They do not care if an unscrupulous KJ buys 10 systems, and one set of music for the entire 10 rigs. They do not care that this KJ, with his much lower cost of (illegal) music per rig can now underbid the legitimate KJ, and run him out of business.
Sound Choice has been fortunate to have the support of the KJ industry for many years. There are many hundreds who have been loyal customers for nearly as long as we have been in business. We feel a moral obligation to continue to try and produce the best possible music for these customers, and to make every effort possible to insure that these loyal customers have a fair opportunity to be competitive businessmen.
So that, in a nutshell, is our position. We will not permit the installation of our music on any hard drive machine as long as there is no system to prevent the music from being copied onto another system. When the hard drive system manufacturers begin to feel a sense of responsibility to the KJ industry, rather than their own sales, and add copy protection to their machines, then we will discuss installation of Sound Choice material on a hard drive system.
I hope that this has answered your question. Please feel free to request that CAVS put copy protection on their machines - pressure from their own customer base is probably the only manner in which to get this accomplished. Until it is, I am sorry to say that you will not see any legal Sound Choice songs on a hard drive system anywhere.
Thank you again for taking the time to write.
Tom Turner
General Manager
..................................................................................................
From Sound Choice
Tom Turner - General Manager
2/19/03
To Rick Berry
XXX-XXX-XXXX
rse@tah-usa.net
I will try and go through all of your questions in a little more detail next week, but I wanted to address a couple of issues. First of all, the archiving issue. I have no problem with archived copies, which is indirectly addressed by the Fair Use Act that Joe Senter of S.P.I.N. referenced on MTU's site without explanation.
You are allowed to make a copy for PERSONAL use - singing in the shower, in the car, etc. Just can't use it commercially.
As for archived copies, you are certainly permitted to make them - but they are for record-keeping purposes (hence the term archive). You cannot use archive copies instead of your originals in a show. All the folks who want to hang their hats on legal entitlement to making copies try to use this argument.........
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
End Of Letter...
I just thought that you all may like to hear a point of View Close to all of us From someone that actually does know what is going on.
This was recieved through a personal email and not directly through SC... If someone wants to offer rebuttle I will ask Mr. Turner if I may pass his e-mail on to you ...or I can forward any future posts to this letter on to him.
Rickyokie
ADMIN NOTE: Read my second post below before reading these letters from Sound Choice.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
From Sound Choice
Tom Turner - General Manager
2/19/03
To Rick Berry
XXX-XXX-XXXX
rse@tah-usa.net
Thank you for taking the time to write, and please excuse my slow response. I have been out of town for the past two week at a series of trade shows.
The issue of putting music on hard drives is a very complex one. Certainly we at Sound Choice understand the desirability of that for a KJ - the portability, ease of use, inventory protection, and so forth. But there is an extremely significant issue that has not yet been addressed by the management of CAVS, or any of the other hard-drive suppliers.
That issue, very plainly, is the inability and/or unwillingness of these manufacturers to protect the music contents from being copied. The other issue is the ability of anyone to load a set of songs on multiple CAVS units.
You mentioned that you currently own two systems, and that you do twelve shows. Now you are buying your first CAVS unit, which you will get pre-loaded with music on the hard drive.
I am assuming that you will buy a second CAVS unit at some time in the future, for your second system.
When you buy your second unit, do you have to purchase another set of the music software, or will you load the same music from your first unit onto the second unit?
Does your purchase agreement with CAVS permit you to make unlimited copies of the one set of music that came with your original machine?
Do you have a release letter form the music manufacturer, explicitly giving you permission to make copies of your original music purchase?
I am sure that you also realize how easy it is to duplicate the contents of a hard drive. I also know that CAVS provides their customers with instructions on how to load their own music on the CAVS units. There are two very fundamental issues with the capability to do this.
The first is that it is completely illegal. Copyright law (for all copyrighted materials - books, music, artwork, etc.) expressly prohibits the use of copies for ANY commercial use. That means that a copy -either onto a disc or a hard drive - cannot be used for any commercial purpose. A copy cannot be sold, given away as a promotional item, played on a for hire or promotional basis, and so forth.
The second issue is even for ethically fundamental, and that is the protection of the KJs themselves. Hard drive system manufacturers do not care about the sales of the music - they are only interested in selling the hardware. They do not care if an unscrupulous KJ buys 10 systems, and one set of music for the entire 10 rigs. They do not care that this KJ, with his much lower cost of (illegal) music per rig can now underbid the legitimate KJ, and run him out of business.
Sound Choice has been fortunate to have the support of the KJ industry for many years. There are many hundreds who have been loyal customers for nearly as long as we have been in business. We feel a moral obligation to continue to try and produce the best possible music for these customers, and to make every effort possible to insure that these loyal customers have a fair opportunity to be competitive businessmen.
So that, in a nutshell, is our position. We will not permit the installation of our music on any hard drive machine as long as there is no system to prevent the music from being copied onto another system. When the hard drive system manufacturers begin to feel a sense of responsibility to the KJ industry, rather than their own sales, and add copy protection to their machines, then we will discuss installation of Sound Choice material on a hard drive system.
I hope that this has answered your question. Please feel free to request that CAVS put copy protection on their machines - pressure from their own customer base is probably the only manner in which to get this accomplished. Until it is, I am sorry to say that you will not see any legal Sound Choice songs on a hard drive system anywhere.
Thank you again for taking the time to write.
Tom Turner
General Manager
..................................................................................................
From Sound Choice
Tom Turner - General Manager
2/19/03
To Rick Berry
XXX-XXX-XXXX
rse@tah-usa.net
I will try and go through all of your questions in a little more detail next week, but I wanted to address a couple of issues. First of all, the archiving issue. I have no problem with archived copies, which is indirectly addressed by the Fair Use Act that Joe Senter of S.P.I.N. referenced on MTU's site without explanation.
You are allowed to make a copy for PERSONAL use - singing in the shower, in the car, etc. Just can't use it commercially.
As for archived copies, you are certainly permitted to make them - but they are for record-keeping purposes (hence the term archive). You cannot use archive copies instead of your originals in a show. All the folks who want to hang their hats on legal entitlement to making copies try to use this argument.........
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
End Of Letter...
I just thought that you all may like to hear a point of View Close to all of us From someone that actually does know what is going on.
This was recieved through a personal email and not directly through SC... If someone wants to offer rebuttle I will ask Mr. Turner if I may pass his e-mail on to you ...or I can forward any future posts to this letter on to him.
Rickyokie