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Text File
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1985-11-20
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3KB
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48 lines
HEY WHAT'S THAT NOISE, by POWA
==============================
Okay... so you've just got some disks from the Public Domain of the demos
you wanted... you load it up and you see a stunning display of graphics on
your monitor (or television). Then you hear the music, and realise where
you've heard it before... yep... you've got it on CD or TAPE or whatever.
It's a SAMPLE!
One of the greatest fears that a coder has is the use of a sample
in their code. They're frightened of the thought of a record company
sending them a letter suing them for a copyrighted piece of music...
PHOOEY!!! Can you imagine how rich MAD MAX would be if he took action on
ALL of his music? (Come to think of it DON'T!). Isn't it fair enough that
if the artist who's piece of music you use is credited in your code
somewhere visible? I know this sounds pretty harsh and unfair certain
circumstances, but let's be sensible here. In a lot of cases all that is
heard of the original piece of music is about 15 seconds or so at a
maximum. This isn't broadcasting the whole tune, and you can get done for
just 15 seconds of sound, but it hasn't occurred to the artist that this
could be a subtle way of advertising their music. Whenever some viewer of
the demo hears this sample it might ring in their head for weeks and in
some cases they will want to hear the rest of that sample, therefore they
may purchase that music should they find it appealing.
How far will this copyright law go? Back in 1984/1985 when Ray
Parker Jr. wrote the music for "(Who you gonna call?) GHOSTBUSTERS" as soon
as it was a success in the charts all other artists came pouring in with
lawsuits on copyright, such as Huey Lewis (saying that it sounded like his
song "I WANT A NEW DRUG") and Robin Scott (saying it sounded like his hit
"POP MUSIC"). So if you think that sampling a piece of music is
un-original, then in trying to be original by writing your own blip-blop
music or module, someone out there can try to sue you for copying their
tune if it sounds something like it... daft isn't it??? Even if you listen
to some of the music on the arcade machines, you can hear a familiarity in
the music to some other popular song.
But finally, the "get out" clause is if you allow your demo (with
the sample) to go around freely. The real reason why the artist or record
company get's on your case is if you're making a profit from the use of
their piece of music. All demo coders out there, we all know that no
matter how much we ask for donations for OUR work, people are dubious about
sending it to us, but a lot of us are out there for the fun of it so it
doesn't matter too much. The real case is, you're NOT making any profit
whatsoever, so if the record company ask for a share by law... let them
have it!! After all, if they ask for umpteen percent, give them umpteen
percent of the NOTHING that you've profited from your demo.