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Re: [ARSCLIST] Public's rights....was offlist archival question from ARSC list member



As both a collector and producer of music I am as they say, of two minds. In general I solve the problem of extraneous material quite simply, I just finish one take. When we have gotten a few passes down and have carefully analyzed which one has won the battle of excellence the others just get wiped. This insures that only the strongest survive. In a rare instance, we might take a coda from one
take and fly it into the ending of another take that was otherwise in all other ways superior. The only time that I feel that the completist
viewpoint is truly justified is in the case of over-cutting for an album. In the days of the LP when we were limited to 40 some minutes of running time one might encounter a song that was never used simply because it was too long to fit on the album and for no other reason. The artist say Mingus, might have written ten songs for the album but when all were mixed and matched to fit that one song that ran 6: 35 did not make it on to the final master. In this rare case, I can see it eventually seeing the light of day quite justifiably. But in general I must agree with Tom, the legacy of the artist is almost invariably diminished by issuing a bunch of inferior, botched and often incomplete recordings. There was usually a very good rationale as to why this music was deemed unfit for human consumption.
By the way, I have always found that the artist is not at all opposed to this seemingly Draconian practice, in fact they are quite happy that the highest manifestation of their vision available is also the only one that will outlast us all.


Aaron


Roger and Allison Kulp wrote:
Does this become null and void after an artist dies ?

Bob Olhsson <olh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Don Andes writes:
Opinion A) NO - What gives anyone or everyone the right to be able to
hear every note that said artist recorded?

This is the position the vast majority of artists and producers I know will take. Some destroy everything but the final master if they think there is even the slightest chance of losing control over it. They consider it part of their right to privacy to control what the public will have access to.




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