This has been possibly the most fascinating thread I've seen in Mudcat over the last year and a half. I hope you'll excuse my input here as I'm neither British nor a recording artist (and never likely to be either) but I have some thoughts.

There seems to be a desire on some people's part that an obvious businessman should become part of the 'folk' and 'do the right thing'. How often does that really happen? There have been umpteen cases in America where musicians have had to use incredibly nasty tactics themselves to get a fair shake. Remember John Fogarty's battle with his Record Company? He even slandered the owner in one of his songs "Zantz Can't Dance". People who get into music for profit often play hardball, both owners and artists. Some probably really enjoy it. The higher the stakes, the more fun, because there can be millions at stake.

Obviously that isn't the case here. The issues seem to be "important" traditional music, and perhaps a very few thousand pounds. It sounds like a few of those musicians could REALLY use that money, or at least put their recorded music to good use again, to help them earn a living. My guess is that they earn very little at best.

Have any of the artists 'banded together' so that they COULD hire a lawyer, or is this Bulmer fellow's position simply 'airtight'? If he's on solid ground then the artists are left with very few options OTHER than impassioned discussions like this. When this discussion is over, will any of the artists be better off?

It strikes me as the best alternatives left to the artists might be some form of guerilla tactics. Why not ask (over the net) if any fans have 'clean' copies of the music on record, that they'd be willing to loan in order to make a 'new master'? Sure, the sound quality won't be absolutely first class, but with the equipment available today, it'll be close, and isn't the 'content' the most important thing with this kind of music? Yes, it would be illegal, but perhaps it would encourage this man into some form of dialogue that might produce a resolution BEFORE litigation.

Simply ASKING a businessman to 'have a heart' when that might mean they'll lose money, isn't going to work. Even in folk music.

marty