The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #102005   Message #2066830
Posted By: dick greenhaus
02-Jun-07 - 08:54 PM
Thread Name: morality of collecting
Subject: RE: morality of collecting
Dave (and others)-
Re CAMSCO co-operation.

Co-operation in what? I've already offered to give royalties (out of my pocket) to any artists who are entitled to same and are not getting them from Celtic Music (nobody's asked as yet). My only reason for carrying CM releases is simply that they're good music that's otherwise unobtainable.
   All of the Bulmer-haters seem to agree that CM has the rights to these recordings, regardless of how fervently anyone would wish otherwise. Should I also refuse to carry recordings of material collected by, say, Lomax, who cheated Leadbelly unmercifully? Or Green Linnet recordings, since they've been accused of stiffing recording artists? Or Peter Kennedy's Folktrax series, because Kennedy's actions were apparently less than ethical? Or recordings by Rounder, who are "sitting on" a large number of out-of-print CDs? I'm not responsible for someone else's ethics and business sense, or lack of same.
    Look, my interest is making good folk music available. I won't carry illegally pirated recordings. The amount of money I have made, am making or can make from the sale of CM's recordings is trivial. Outside of some recorded by The Kipper Family or Sid Kipper himself, I doubt that I've sold more than fifteen in toto (that would come to a fat $32.75 US in royalties, assuming that the various artists were owed royalties for these CDs.)
   I fail to see how refusing to carry CM's releases would do anyone a damn bit of good.