Sinister: Re: MP3s of the University gig

[Joe Chip]

Am I the only one to completely disagree with Neil here?

> From: "Neil Robertson" <belleandsebastian at xxx.com>
> Organization: Banchory Management
> Reply-To: "Neil Robertson" <belleandsebastian at email.msn.com>
> Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 15:53:33 -0000
> To: "sinister" <sinister at missprint.org>
> Subject: Sinister: Fw: MP3s of the University gig
> 
> Right. About the MP3s.
> Firstly, I don't think Jeepster even know the MP3s were up. It wasn't
> their decision to get them taken down. It was the band that wanted them
> removed.  Put quite simply, the MP3s were a pish recording of a patchy
> gig.  Chris himself admitted he'd plugged the mic into the the wrong
> hole on his minidisc.
> 
> Pickle Prince, this has fuck all to do with money or commodities or
> Napster or anything like that. Most of us were well in favour of
> Napster, and some used it regularly. I agree that ideas are free, but
> if the person who had the idea decides it wasn't a good one, and
> decides not to disseminate it, surely that's their freedom? All your
> talk of artistic freedom is total bollocks if it doesn't include the
> artist's right to decide what is a finished piece of work, and what is
> an experiment that isn't fit to be made available under their name.

It was a public performance wasn't it? They can't take it back. They can't
wipe people's brains can they? Please, no, not the mind probe!

> The point is that the band have the right to have some control over how
> they are presented. If we'd like something to be made available, and
> think it is good enough for people to hear, then we'll make it
> available.

Fine, but that's got nothing to do with someone recording a gig and passing
it on to other fans. There's a long and distinguished history of
bootlegging, with or without the artist's blessing (Stuart: if you want to
swap Stereolab shows, let me know). Plus, I'm sure there's plenty of art
appreciated by the Sebastians that wasn't released according to the artist's
wishes and personal judgement. The Trial appears on the cover of If You're
Feeling Sinister; didn't Kafka ask for all his writings to be destroyed when
he died? Didn't they use the recording of the Troggs bickering as an intro
tape?

> For instance, there's the "Black Sessions" CD. I don't know
> who is manufacturing it

Um, everyone who gets a copy?

> so I couldn't stop them even if I wanted to,
> but it's not too bad. You see it about quite a bit. I've got a copy of
> it. I almost wish there wasn't an MP3 of "Middle Distance Runner" going
> around. That's a song that's not finished, because it's not very good
> the way it is now.

Which is a perfect example of why you don't get to decide which songs we
choose to share! The band are free to control what they release. You're free
to your opinion. We're free to share whatever we want to listen to.

> It will come out at some point, and it will be much
> better then.

We'll be the judge of that!

> But we made the mistake of giving it to the BBC to play
> for a special.

And played it at just about every gig too, c'mon...

> We put it in the public domain, and we live with the
> consequences of that. Fair enough. "Lord Anthony" isn't finished yet
> either, but we haven't gone chasing people over that, so to suggest
> we've gone all fascist is obviously nonsense.

It's patronising to suggest we treat the first version we hear as the
best/only possible version and won't judge a future release on its own
merits.

> But the MP3s of last week's gig were totally shite.

Like Middle Distance Runner? Again, let us be the judge. Sure it's
understandable for members of the band to be embarrassed about a poor
performance, but if they're not careful, by overreacting they could get a
reputation for being precious! H-ha!

> It was a bit of fun
> on a Wednesday afternoon, which the band spent about an hour rehearsing
> for. It was hopefully fun if you were there, but having heard the
> recording of it I can safely say it's probably not something anyone
> would put on to listen to of an evening.

Ever thought of going into politics? I'm sure there's room in government for
someone to help civilians know what they want by telling them what to do.

> We don't think they're of any
> value whatsoever, so we don't want them available. It's an artistic
> decision, and if you can't respect our right to that, then hard luck.

So there's no chance of them joining Yo La Tengo for the upcoming WFMU radio
charity session (where listeners phone in with requests of songs for them to
cover... unrehearsed Good Vibrations anyone? - try Napsta').

> I mean, it's hardly fucking Metallica is it? We don't have teams of
> lawyers searching the 'net 24 hours a day.

Just one grouchy Legal Man? 'Hardly Fucking Metallica?!' Hold on a minute
while I scrawl that on the men's room wall...

> But Chris is a friend of the
> band so we've asked him nicely to take it down and he's done so.
>
> I'm sorry Chris feels like a cunt. I think that's totally unnecessary.
> As I said, Chris is a friend of the band, and I feel bad making him
> look like a scapegoat, because he has done both myself and the band
> several favours in the past, and we owe him far more than he owes us.
> No-one's angry with him or anything. No harm done.
> 
> I'm sorry to the people who couldn't be at the gig. I can understand
> people wanting to hear what the gig sounded like, especially since it's
> been so long, and people very rarely get the chance to hear the band
> live. But there will be plenty of gigs later in the year.
>
> Doubtlessly some people won't be able to make these either, so if a decent
> recording of a decent gig gets posted up, we won't feel so inclined to
> have it removed.

But if they don't think they've played well enough there'll be
hypno-councelling booths available after the show to reshape everyone's
memories to the official ideal...

> And that's how it is.
> Cheers for your time,
> 
> Neil Robertson
> neil at banchory.net

Look, I don't really mean to have a go, but you seem to have had your
feathers ruffled and I just feel there's some overreaction going on.

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