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  1. #1

    Reissue labels- which ones are licensed and which ones are not?

    As many may be aware, under present copyright laws, sound recordings become public domain after 50 years [[which might soon be changed to 70 years, to keep Beatles records in the hands of EMI, and in turn to keep EMI solvent! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8411741.stm)

    Anyway, as it stands there are several companieas legally releasing unlicensed 50's music.
    Some vary in quality and sometimes it is difficult to know if the music will be straight from vinyl or other sources. It also means that there is no requirement to pay any royalties to the artists who made the music.

    I have three questions; which reissue companies are [[a) releasing unlicensed music, [[b) not paying any royalties and [[c) which sources are being used if it is not vinyl.

    [[a) is not too important if I am being honest. If royalties are paid to the artists [[or, more likely, their families) and the sound quality is good, I have no qualms about companies legally bypassing any licensing to do this. But the prices of some reissues are so low, I doubt that many do pay any royalties or bother mastering songs.

    I am sure that in one of my Ace/Kent cd's it stated that royalties were always paid to artists, even when they were not required by copyright. I also wonder how a record company can reissue music without access to the masters, unless they use vinyl.

    Ace/Kent- are above board. I would say the same about Shout/RPM. Non-independant reissuers, such as Rhino, Hip-O, Motown UK, Stateside, are also of less interest.

    The ones I am confused about are Charly [[e.g. Vee Jay Records looks like it might be official, and most of their cd's seem to be directly licensed from LicenseMusic.com Aps [[again, I know very little about this company, does anyone know how they obtained these licenses in the first place?), Proper Records [[I have a Muddy Waters boxset, most of it doesn't sound like it is from vinyl, but where were the tracks sourced from?) JSP, Floating World Records [[some of their stuff must be properly licensed- they re-issued the Capricorn cd on Jewel/Paula, which includes 70's songs), BGO records, Goldmine, Demon group [[including Edsel), Future Noise, Red/Membran, SPV, Rhythm & Blues Records [[the company doing the History of Rhythm and Blues boxsets) and NotNow Music. I know there is a company, Hallmark, who seem to be doing straight-from vinyl budget re-issues of original LP's.

    I would certainly buy a lot more from these companies if I knew that some of it went to the artists/their families or at least that the music was not straight from vinyl. Does anyone know about these independant labels? Any info would be much appreciated.

  2. #2
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    Well ..

    I would say that with both Goldmine and Charley .. most of their output was legitimately licensed ..but then on occasions .......

    Roger

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    Many reissue companies use other CDs as thier sources, and some sound pretty damn good. It all depends on who's doing the mastering..

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    Ace/Kent always try and lease copies from master tapes where available and use the best vinyl source if they're not. They deal with who ever has the rights to these recordings and as we've seen on this forum that might not be entirely clear cut.

    What EMI and other record companies are worried about is the current law that says copyrights in recordings in the UK ends after 50 years.There are hundreds of legitimately re issued compilations of fifties blues and rock'n'roll on the market. EMI and the original record companies and their successors receive no fees from these re issues as licensing agreements were not necessary. The re issue companies are obliged to pay music publishers as the copyright in song writing lasts for a considerably longer period than copyright in recordings. The re issues are mostly sourced from original vinyl copies and cleaned up digitally. Some companies have access to alternate takes or dubs from masters owned by artists , producers engineers etc. I've bought several Elvis singles re issued by the Memphis Recording Services and they're legitimate releases.

    However there is a recent boom in re issuing soul and rock'n'roll 45s to which the rights have not been licensed. They've not been sourced from original vinyl but have been copied from legitimately leased CDs. There is a history to this. When Northern Soul was at its height in the seventies and when there were more Ric Tic singles in the UK than in Detroit demand for rare soul imports grew and to meet that demand several DJs , record shops started cutting acetates and selling them at ten times the price of a new single. Demand was so high that they started to get them pressed at vinyl pressing plants. All of this was illegitimate. The only people who got paid were the DJs, the record shop owners and ceratin employees at record plants.

    It's happening again today. Only this time they're sourcing the rare cuts from legitimate CDs.
    A popular play on the European soul scene is Loving by the Pound. It first surfaced in a 1992 album Remember Me by Otis Redding. Most people including myself played the track from the vinyl album but were frustrated by the lack of bass form a ten track per side of vinyl. Others got hold of the CD release and pressed up a fake Stax single. I've seen it on Blue and Yellow Stax and on Atco. All of them are bootlegs. I've just tried to get an image of the label but the cheeky buggers at northernsouldirect have claimed copyright on their photo. Just Google the title in Images.

    I now own a legit 45 as licensed and reissued by Ace/Kent with money going to the recording's owners and to the music publishers whom I presume will disperse some of it to the songwriters at least.

    Here's a page of re issues some of them licensed and others probably not. See if you work out which is which.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by frankm View Post
    Ace/Kent always try and lease copies from master tapes where available and use the best vinyl source if they're not. They deal with who ever has the rights to these recordings and as we've seen on this forum that might not be entirely clear cut.


    I now own a legit 45 as licensed and reissued by Ace/Kent with money going to the recording's owners and to the music publishers whom I presume will disperse some of it to the songwriters at least.

    Here's a page of re issues some of them licensed and others probably not. See if you work out which is which.
    Good for you Frank and rest assured that Otis' estate will be earning too, so he has left a financial legacy for his family.

    As for Goldmine, that's another story entirely! They have folded now though.

    Ady

  6. #6
    Cheers for the info! By the way, just like to make it a bit clearer that I wasn't trying to suggest that Ace/Kent don't use masters, I really do want to stress that they are as above board as an independant reissue label posssibly could be!

    This whole reissue thing was never a real problem when I was into soul, as the majority of this music is not yet fifty years older. But I'm listening to more and more 50's songs, so I would rather give my money to legitimate releases than the more suspect ones. I always had some suspicions about Goldmine- although those Groovesville cd's will always have a place in my heart!

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    I have no problem with using vinyl or other CDs for sources if no master tapes are available. I only hope that the vinyl transfers are done very carefully, and all noises are removed.

  8. #8
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    As far as I know:


    • Ace - Legit
    • Aim - Bootlegs
    • AVI - Legit?
    • Backbeats - Legit
    • BGO - Legit
    • Charly - Some legit, some out-of-copyright, some bootlegs
    • Collectables - Mostly legit
    • Demon Music Group - Mostly legit
    • Eric - Legit Fuel 2000 - Some legit, some bootlegs [[even though they are distributed through the legit Varese label)
    • Future Noise Music - Some legit, some out-of-copyright
    • Goldmine - Bootlegs
    • Hip-O - Legit
    • Hit Parade - Out-of-copyright
    • Marginal - Bootlegs
    • Rare Rockin' Records- Bootlegs
    • Raven - Legit
    • Razor & Tie - Legit
    • Rev-Ola - Mostly legit
    • Rhino - Legit
    • Shout/RPM - Legit
    • Spectrum - Legit
    • Stateside - Legit
    • Superbird - Legit
    • Varese - Legit
    Last edited by DBF; 12-19-2010 at 09:19 PM.

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    DBF .. you missed out Vampisoul .. a reissue label based in Spain, their releases are quite common in Britain.

    http://www.vampisoul.com/

    I picked up a release of WILLIE HENDERSON Brunswick material some years back, and made some enquiries here on SDF about whether it was legitimate as one of the regular posters at that time was working or had been working for Brunswick records in New York. Brunswick in the US had never even heard of Vampisoul .. I think lawyers letters were soon flying across the Atlantic.

    Regarding Goldmine, some of the releases were done in conjunction with Record producers and, if the notes on their CDs are to believed, some major record labels. Therefore I would classify them in your "some legit, some bootlegs" category ...

    And here is my Goldmine Story .. back at the end of 2002 I had a three day stopover in Los Angeles heading back to London from New Zealand. Whilst there I found a used record shop on Hollywood Boulevard near The Chinese Theatre etc. in Hollywood. As soon as the shop owner heard my accent he became VERY interested in knowing whether I had any connection with Goldmine records .. it seems his brother had been in THE NATURAL FOUR when they had recorded "I Thought You Were Mine" and was attempting to sue them for having included it on one of their "Northern Soul of LA" collections.

    I got the impression that if I had been involved with Goldmine things could have turned quite nasty.

    Roger

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