Russian WWII Veterans Asked To Pay Up For Singing Old War Songs

from the putting-up-that-tollbooth-on-nostalgia dept

Tue, Mar 30th 2010 6:01pm — Mike Masnick

We've talked in the past about how the Russian Authors' Society has made bands pay up to play their own songs, and now apparently it's going after some Russian WWII veterans for getting together and singing old war songs. Patriotism and nostalgia, apparently, aren't free. We've discussed this before, of course. The value in artistic works is often in the shared culture around them -- but thanks to copyright, we're putting up a big tollbooth on any attempt to further share those experiences. It's a huge hindrance on actually spreading culture and seems to go against the very purpose of copyright law.

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Filed Under: copyright

29 Comments

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Marcus Carab (profile), 30 Mar 2010 @ 6:16pm

When the rights societies get this crazy, I have to wonder: is it just a symptom of bureaucracy dispersing decisions so much that nobody actually realizes what they are doing, or is there actually someone out there thinking "greedy veterans should pay up!"
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- Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 6:34pm
  
  Re:
  Well, had they simply been veterans from the first world war then this issue would be moot.
  
  WWI is in the public domain, right?
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  - ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 30 Mar 2010 @ 6:39pm
    
    Re: Re:
    "WWI is in the public domain, right?"
    
    Once they started 'updating' copyrights retroactively, who knows?
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    - Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 7:00pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      In World War 3, armies will have to pay royalties to the gun manufacturers for every person they kill.
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      - Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 7:19pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        You know the sound that a bullet makes when it hits the flesh? Yeah, that'll be copyrighted.
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      - ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 30 Mar 2010 @ 7:20pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Rapacious capitalists bring world peace inadvertently?
        
        Prolly the only way it could be done, actually.
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      - mirradric, 30 Mar 2010 @ 9:51pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        You are wrong. That idea simply doesn't makes sense.
        How can it be royalties for every kill? This will give the gun manufacturers a bad name as they get associated with every kill. Not to mention that it's actually underpaying them. They should get royalties for every time rounds are discharged. You know... kinda like getting paid for music played to horses...
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        Danny, 31 Mar 2010 @ 7:47am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        This will give the gun manufacturers a bad name as they get associated with every kill.
        
        We've seen time and time again that developing a bad reputation is of no consequence to these agencies as long as they can continue to pay the government to protect them and their outdated ways.
        
        I can imagine:
        "When people decide not to fight and kill each other they are stealing from us. And not just us but think of the miners that dig up that ore. Ending war means stealing from them too!* The government must pass laws to ensure that peace does not become rampant or our way of life will be destroyed!!!"
        
        * - A nod to the claims that movie piracy is endangering the livelihoods of corn farmers.
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  - Richard (profile), 31 Mar 2010 @ 2:22am
    
    Re: Re:
    Well, had they simply been veterans from the first world war then this issue would be moot.
    
    because dead men can't sing...
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IronM@sk, 30 Mar 2010 @ 6:35pm

Re: tiffany
That's awesome...
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 6:52pm

Re: tiffany
This post is relevant to the topic at hand.
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Overcast (profile), 30 Mar 2010 @ 7:00pm

I guess one could interpret this as the "Russian Authors' Society" has nothing better to do?
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 7:05pm

Oh for the days of the KGB.
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slander (profile), 30 Mar 2010 @ 7:14pm

In Soviet Russia...
...
...
...
...

ok, I got nothin'
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Matthew Krum (profile), 30 Mar 2010 @ 7:16pm

In Soviet Russia...
Song sings you!
But seriously this is horrifying but at least it seems the Russian Parliament are genuinely looking to change the situation.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 7:39pm

your other link is funny because deep purple isnt really deep purple now. the collections are made for the rights holders who are not all in that band anymore. being less than fully informed means you draw less than correct conclusions.
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- Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 8:28pm
  
  Re:
  Your blathering is getting worse. What are you trying to say, exactly?
  
  Because the drummer is still in the band that means that former band members collect royalties from music that they may have not even contributed too?
  
  What a perfect system! I couldn't see any reason for abuse at all.
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  - Big Al, 30 Mar 2010 @ 10:24pm
    
    Re: Re:
    No, what he's saying is that if there is only one original member left, and the songs they are performing were penned by ex-members, then those ex-members, in the absence of any waiving of rights, are entitled to writer's royalties for each performance.
    To all intents and purposes, in that case, the current incarnation of Deep Purple is nothing more than a cover band.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 10:45pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Even on material that none of the original members wrote?
      
      Because Deep Purple is still making music.
      
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Purple_discography
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      - Anonymous Coward, 31 Mar 2010 @ 7:08am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        they collect on it all and pay the artists that wrote it without concern for who is on stage at a given time.
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        Anonymous Coward, 31 Mar 2010 @ 7:32am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        So if Deep Purple goes all robot and starts creating and performing original work, then old band memebers will still receive money?
        
        That makes perfect sense.
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        Anonymous Coward, 31 Mar 2010 @ 3:16pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        no the robots get paid for their music but they have to pay the music society first which pays it to the rights owners whoever they are. simple system unless you are too dense to figure it out.
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        Anonymous Coward, 31 Mar 2010 @ 3:30pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        What an amazingly simple system! I can see why there won't be any problems in the future. Or now.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 9:55pm

"Russian WWII Veterans Asked To Pay Up For Singing Old War Songs"

So basically these people are singing about the freedoms they allegedly fought for only to have those same freedoms taken away.
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- Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 9:58pm
  
  Re:
  (to complete the sentence)
  
  ... to have those same freedoms taken away by the very entity they were defending in the name of protecting their freedoms.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2010 @ 10:14pm
    
    Re: Re:
    You have to destroy the village in order to save it.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 31 Mar 2010 @ 1:54am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      I wonder if anyone has a copyprivilege on "The Star-Spangled Banner"
      
      Public: For the land of the FREE!!!
      
      Lawyers: Wait, wait, that's not free, you have to pay for that (initiating lawsuit).
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      - Anonymous Coward, 31 Mar 2010 @ 7:45am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        (to continue)
        
        Public (after paying settlement fees): For the land of the PAID!!!!
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Wesha, 31 Mar 2010 @ 1:02pm

"Oscar Feltzman, the author of music for 9a few patriotic songs] is trying to find an explanation. He asks if maybe they (the veterans) charged a lot for admission to the concert? Not at all. The concert was absolutely free.

"If it was a community concert, then nobody owes anybody anything," the composer says. "It's that *we* owe the veterans a bow and deep sincere thanks for their lives [they put on line in the war]"."
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