Contacts for copyright permission-various

Subject: Contacts for copyright permission-variou
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Aug 14 - 01:36 AM

OK, no wisecrasks here. I'm working on the team for the production of Rise Again, the second volume of the Rise Up Singing songbook. We need to get songwriter/publisher permission to use a number of songs in the songbook. Editor Peter Blood has found an amazing number of the people he needs, but there's still a long list of people he can't locate. If you know any of these people or know how to contact them, please post an e-mail address for the person here if it's public, or by personal message (click) if it's a private e-mail address that shouldn't be posted here.
Thanks.
-Joe-
or [e-mail]

---

Here's the list:

1. Ysaye Barnwell
2. done - Alan Bell - hoping [e-mail] will work
3. Eric Bibb
4. Bob Blue (deceased)- anyone know who has rights?
5. Ben Bochner
6. Dillon Bustin
7. David Campbell
8. done - The Capitol Steps
9. Michael Cross
10. Phil Cunningham
11. done - Iris Dement - got a nice phone call from her Tuesday
12. Melanie DeMore
13. David Dodson
14. Laura Fannon
15. Cathy Fink
16. Jon Fromer
17. Tom Gala
18. John Hartford (deceased)
19. Anne Hills
20. Si Kahn
21. Elliot Kenin
22. Bob Killian
23. John Kirkpatrick
24. Mama D (or maybe D Mama?)
25. Marlette Marti (threshold choir)
26. Allistair McGillivray - have snailmail address
27. Paulette Meier
28. Doug Mishkin
29. Ruth Moody
30. Kate Munger (know how to contact her)
31. Rowland Salley
32. Bob Reid - should be able to contact him
33. Jean Ritchie - Big Mick or Dan Schatz can help with her
34. Sally Rogers - know how to contact her
35. David Rovics
36. Kate Rusby
37. Abby Smith
38. Michael Smith
39. Jana Stanfield
40. Bruce Thomas - died in 1985, seeking heirs
41. Cynthia Tierney
42. Paul Tinkerhess
43. Gillian Welch
44. Susan Werner
45. Will.I.Am - found Website, hasn't responded
46. Children's Television Workshop (Sesame Street) - hasn't responded
47. Brooks Williams
48. Lorre Wyatt - hasn't responded

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: Newport Boy
Date: 20 Aug 14 - 03:54 AM

3. Eric Bibb - [e-mail] (Personal & Tour Manager)

36. Kate Rusby - try via Pure Records [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 20 Aug 14 - 05:53 AM

Joe,

Sorry to sound so bloody obvious but I just "googled" Gillian Welch and Eric Bibb at random. Both have current web sites with contact details.
Perhaps you could shorten the list this way. Jean Ritchie (Kytrad to mudcat followers)is in ill health but her family posts here from time to time.
Re John Kirkpatrick and Phil Cunningham; Froots magazine in London should be able to give you contact details.

Hoot

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 20 Aug 14 - 08:48 AM

Many of the folks listed are also on facebook.

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: DebC
Date: 20 Aug 14 - 09:20 AM

PM sent, Joe. Pleas reply via email.

Deb

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 20 Aug 14 - 10:24 AM

Phil Cunningham has a facebook page, if that's any help.

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: GUEST,crazy little woman
Date: 20 Aug 14 - 10:31 AM

Joe, dear: tell them I said that is not a good name for a song book. Why not? Because it doesn't say what kind of book it is. "Rise Again" could be a political tract, a book on physical therapy, or a set of bread recipes.

If you want to sell a songbook, call it a songbook. "Rise Up Singing, Vol 2" suggests itself.

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: Jeri
Date: 20 Aug 14 - 10:34 AM

It's not Joe's book, nor his title, Leeneia.

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 21 Aug 14 - 04:45 AM

Has he checked the last.fm biog pages which often have links to their official web page/label/wikipedia etc ?
(just paste the artist name in the space between 'music/...../+wiki')
www.last.fm/music/      /+wiki

I found these links from the last 15 or so (then, for some, googled a bit using the info) :

31 www.last.fm/music/Bob+Reid/+wiki

I always thought of Bob Reid as Californian, since his mom works at Rosie the Riveter National Park in Richmond, CA.
I know him and should have no trouble getting hold of him. I don't think of him as a Canadian, though. -Joe-

> > http://ca.linkedin.com/in/blairpackham

42 >> (Lisa Wildman) www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn40r3zVlzM
>> www.reverbnation.com/paultinkerhess
> > http://waterhill.org/contact
> www.facebook.com/paultinkerhessmusic

43 >> www.gillianwelch.com/contact/

44 >> http://susanwerner.com/contact/

46 >> www.brookswilliams.com/

Maybe he could whittle the list down a bit.

---

I fixed the links (hopefully!) by putting "http://" at the beginning. -mod

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 21 Aug 14 - 04:52 AM

re bad links above
Sorry-some have somehow had 'mudcat.org/' added at the beginning!?
Suggest you just copy & paste the text into the address bar.

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: EBarnacle
Date: 21 Aug 14 - 10:27 AM

Lorre Wyatt recently did a CD with Pete. You might try The Richmond Organization, AKA TRO. They handles Pete's licensing for him and ought to have Lorre's info on file.

---

Lorre just hasn't responded to e-mail - but Rise Again editor Peter Blood knows where he lives and will drive to his house to get a license if needed. -Joe-

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: EBarnacle
Date: 21 Aug 14 - 10:30 AM

Lorre's also accessible through Appleseed Recording.

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Aug 14 - 10:50 AM

The original book is titled Rise Up Singing: The Group Singing Songbook, taking its title from a line in "Summertime," from Porgy and Bess. I imagine that Rise Again will have a similar subheading. The title comes from the chorus of "The Mary Ellen Carter," a song by Stan Rogers. The editors are aware of all the shortcomings of the original books, and they've read some of the threads about that book here at Mudcat. They're doing their best to address the problems they can resolve [but the biggest shortcoming is how some people choose to use it]. And note that despite its shortcomings, the first book sold a whole heck of a lot of copies (something over a million copies, which is pretty good for a songbook these days).

I haven't researched the copyright permissions problems completely, but I do know that the editors have tried all the obvious ways of contacting the songwriters listed above, and received no response. A few of those above are people I am acquainted with personally, so I don't anticipate a problem getting hold of them. But most have been difficult to contact for one reason or another. So, if you know any of these people and know a direct way to contact them, please send me an e-mail or a personal message.

Thanks.

-Joe-
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: Midchuck
Date: 21 Aug 14 - 10:28 PM

There was a thread about RUS on the UMGF. I posted the following rant about 3 years ago:

I realize nobody likes a negative person, but that book is one of my pet peeves.

I have three complaints about it:

1: Half the time, the chords they give are wrong. But you can't always tell whether they're wrong or right, since they're not really linked to the lyrics in any way that can easily be understood.

2: The authors seem to think it's ok to change song lyrics whenever they consider the originals racist, sexist, too conservative, or homophobic. Almost all real, traditional, American folk music is sexist and/or racist, if you go back before the late '50s boom. So the songs get messed up.

3 (the really important one): People worship the (^%& book to the point that, at a song circle, they'll yell out, "You can't sing that! It's not in The Book!" Or if your lyrics that you learned 30 or 40 years ago differ at all from the ones in The Book, they'll curse you for heresy. And that's not to mention the fact that people get so dependent on it that they read from it as they sing, which means they sing into the book rather than to the people who are listening. Gets muffled.

It's one of the only books I would have all the extant copies of confiscated and burned if I had the power.

Now, the 1954 edition of The New Song Fest, by Dick and Beth Best - now, THERE was songbook. And it included a copy of the Preface from the earlier edition, which stated, in part:

"A reward of one left-hand dungaree patch, guaranteed not to rip, run, rust, tear, split, melt, break, etc. is hereby offered for the pelt of the first bohunk caught surreptitiously using this book at a songfest."

Up with the yellow book! Down with the blue book!

Peter.

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Aug 14 - 12:08 AM

Hi, Peter - The latest edition of Rise Up Singing does a pretty good job of correcting #1 and #2, but #3 is beyond their control. There have been many editions of the book since it first came out in 1988. Editors Peter Blood and Annie Patterson soon realized the error of their ways, and did away with most of the bowdlerizations early on. Chords took much longer to fix, but the chords in the latest edition of the book are much less aggravating than those in the first edition.
This time, they're trying to do it right the first time around, so they have a big team of people doing proof reading and other corrections before the book goes to press. No doubt there will be mistakes, but it's starting to look pretty good.
For more information, or if you'd like to volunteer to help, follow this link:

http://www.quakersong.org/rise_again/index.php

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Aug 14 - 02:57 AM

John O'Connor/Rory Kehoe/Graham Lister wrote a song called "Star Trekkin'" (I didn't choose that one). I take it they're filkers. Anyone know how to contact them?

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Aug 14 - 04:08 AM

Here's another one: "You Got To Know How" was written by Sippie Wallace, whom I know as having performed with Bonnie Raitt.
Sippie Wallace died November 1, 1986 (aged 88)
The song's rights were held by Sippie Wallace Productions (BMI), a Michigan corporation, which was automatically dissolved in 1988 (apparently because of non-renewal).

The songbook editors apparently found the BMI listing for this song. Is there some reason why they can't license it through BMI for the songbook?

---

Same with Night Rider's Lament, by Michael Burton (and you thought it was by Jerry Jeff Walker, didn't you?). -Joe-

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: GUEST,TomC
Date: 22 Aug 14 - 01:27 PM

If the songs is listed by BMI or ASCAP then you should be able to license them through the Harry Fox Agency. HFA can also provide you with publisher contact information, although it may not be up to date for older material.

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 22 Aug 14 - 03:44 PM

"The authors seem to think it's ok to change song lyrics whenever they consider the originals racist, sexist, too conservative, or homophobic. Almost all real, traditional, American folk music is sexist and/or racist, if you go back before the late '50s boom. So the songs get messed up."

It IS okay. We are all free people living in the free world, and we don't have to use our time and money to pass on somebody else's hatreds. Changing that creepy old stuff is just part of the folk process.

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: maeve
Date: 22 Aug 14 - 04:11 PM

Joe, look for a PM from me regarding David Dodson and Dillon Buston.
Maeve

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: mg
Date: 22 Aug 14 - 09:45 PM

Did you mean allistair mcgilvary of cape breton...there is a labor songwriter named john oconnor..doubt he is filk.

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Aug 14 - 12:19 AM

These are not the "obvious" connections some might think them to be. Hal Leonard is publishing the book, and they already took care of all the songwriters they can cover through BMI, ASCAP, and the Harry Fox Agency. Other people have found Websites through Google and attempted contact, but some didn't respond.

We've already tried to contact Alan Bell at [e-mail], and he hasn't responded. If anyone has a more direct way to contact him, please let me know privately.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: Haruo
Date: 23 Aug 14 - 03:23 AM

I must admit that Hal Leonard is not, especially in connection with copyrights, an outfit I have much regard for. Their fakebooks assert absurdities like a copyright in the simple melody line and first verse of "Silent Night".

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: Howard Jones
Date: 23 Aug 14 - 11:12 AM

You could try getting in touch with Sailor Ron who started this thread about Alan Bell's 80th birhtday

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=154238#3616896

Someone at North West Folk might have a contact for him:

http://www.northwestfolk.co.uk/

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Aug 14 - 04:04 AM

We got a response from Cynthia Bell on behalf of Alan Bell today, so I guess that's taken care of. I've annotated my list in the first message to note the progress we've made, which is substantial. Thanks a lot to all who have helped - it really made a difference.

Now I have a challenge to license printing of songs by James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Fleetwood Mac, and Neil Young. I wish Spaw were around to help me with Neil Young. I wonder if the Neil Young Center for the Terminally Screwed will speak to me without Spaw at my side....On these, the information I have is, "they won't do it." So, I have to figure out whom to contact who will be willing. Interesting challenge. If you know anybody who knows somebody, let me know.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Contacts for copyright permission-various
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 28 Aug 14 - 04:49 AM

Regarding "Star Trekking" - try http://billcmartin.co.uk/bill-martin