Welcome one and all to something that will undoubtedly change both history and the world as we know it: the first installment of what will hopefully be a regular publication which we have decided to call From the “What the…?”File. Basically, I’ll be picking up on out-of-the-mainstream stuff which any of us could have lived without knowing, but it will at least be stuff that is both interesting and has a bit of a twist. At least in theory, anyway. So, without further ado, here goes the collector’s item first issue. I can confidentially say that that when you’re done, you too will be saying “What the…?”
European Copyright – The Write Stuff?
OK, not many of us care about Euro Copyright issues – I fully admit that. But this is actually kind of interesting (even if it is Euro-centric). It seems that way back in 2006, a Hollywood-funded, Netherlands-based anti-piracy group (known as ‘BREIN’, and please don’t ask me what it stands for) asked a musician to compose music for an anti-piracy video. The video in question was to be shown at a local film festival, and under these strict conditions the composer accepted the job.
However, the anti-piracy ad was recycled for various other purposes apparently without the composer’s permission. When the composer bought a Harry Potter DVD early 2007 (presumably a licensed one), he noticed that the campaign video with his music was on it. According to the composer And this was no isolated incident. He is now claiming that his work has been used on tens of millions of Dutch DVDs, without him receiving any compensation for it. The total claimed lost revenue is roughly a million Euros (which is about $1.3 mil US).
But wait -- there’s more. You’d think that the guy would have received some collection support from local rights societies. You’d think. But soon after he discovered the unauthorized distribution and after contacting a local music royalty collection agency not only did he not receive any royalties, one of their Board members offered to help ONLY if the composer assigned all his rights to the organization AND gave the guy a third of what was collected. Ultimately the board member resigned and the anti-piracy group denied it was their fault in the first place. But what’s more shocking – that anti-pirates are pirates themselves, or that there is corruption in the music industry? Hmmm – tough question.