Notice on unauthorized Jayhawks live releases

[sacred roots]

Posted yesterday on the band's Tumblr. http://jayhawksofficial.tumblr.com/p...-live-releases

Notice on unauthorized Jayhawks live releases

It has come to our attention that a number of unauthorized Jayhawks live releases are currently being shipped from Europe. Due to a variety of confusing laws, copyright “holes” have popped up in recent years, especially in regards to releases derived from recordings of older radio broadcasts. The market is currently being flooded with a plethora of “live albums” from across the musical spectrum, including releases on vinyl and even box sets. These releases look official, but rest assured they are not. They are usually sourced haphazardly and often feature sketchy sound quality, poor editing and incorrect information - they’re little more than glorified bootlegs. Quality control is frequently lacking with these kind of releases, something many unsuspecting fans find out after it’s too late. While these grey market releases may pass legal muster in some countries, they are not authorized by the artists or their record companies. The artists have nothing to do with their creation or distribution and the artists most certainly don’t receive any money from their sales.

Furthermore, in almost all cases, these recordings are readily available for free - sometimes in superior quality - through various outlets and fan communities.

That something can be released under an artist’s name without their approval is greatly troubling, as is the fact that the generosity of dedicated fans and tapers is being exploited by unscrupulous parties who are taking advantage of weak copyright laws in order to profit from the work of others.

With regards to the recent unofficial Jayhawks live releases, all of these recordings are well known to fans and have long circulated for free. There’s a wonderful resource at the Live Music Archive where well over 100 Jayhawks live recordings are available for free downloading or streaming, including some of the recordings that are currently being marketed for sale in Europe.

The Jayhawks Live Music Archive: https://archive.org/details/TheJayhawks

Official Jayhawks merch store: https://stores.portmerch.com/jayhawksofficial/

[ChiefCrowe]

Thanks, that's interesting and good to know.

I would love it if the band would release more official live stuff and video digitally. I know I would definitely buy it!

[zebulon]

Originally Posted by ChiefCrowe

Thanks, that's interesting and good to know.

I would love it if the band would release more official live stuff and video digitally. I know I would definitely buy it!

+1

[JoMama]

Just currious, as this seems to be happening to a lot of musicians, could there be any sort of legal action taken using lawyers in the countries of origin of this material? I saw this with Hüsker Dü and wonder why loopholes can even exist that allow this material to be produced for sale without any sort of royalty arrangement. I suppose it's a bigger can of worms than anyone has time/money for, but it seems like it could be done if enough bands' lawyers want to get involved, especially if the producers of illegal material are being offered via places like Amazon, Discogs, eBay, etc. It seems like a call to a lawyer at Amazon could put the kabosh on the wider distribution, which of course, any "manufacturer" is after.
Just my 37 cents.

[sacred roots]

The problem lies in a general relaxing of copyright laws around the world. It hasn't happened in the US yet but the ball is rolling in that direction. In the UK, for instance, releases sourced from radio broadcasts that are over 20 years old are fair game. Such releases are legal for manufacture and sale in the UK since they're essentially now in the public domain, so no royalties are due. That sounds absurd but, as anyone who has travelled to East Asia lately can tell you, there are plenty of countries where the concept of artists rights and intellectual property ownership are non-existent. Amazon actually has pretty strict policies on sales of unauthorized material but that brings up another loophole. These releases aren't being sold on Amazon US but can be very easily ordered from Amazon UK for foreign delivery. Import/export laws are even more confusing and varied than copyright laws so it's very much a "finger in the dike" kind of situation. It's ultimately a sad situation and, in most cases, the fans and, especially, the artists are on the short end of the stick. The best that can be done at this point is public education to warn unsuspecting fans that a) these releases are unauthorized and b) nearly all of the material from these releases is available for free somewhere.