Grace Maxwell’s Comments

• Oct 6th, 2009 @ 7:53am

  Re: copyright mythology

  on Edwyn Collins Can't Give Away His Music Thanks To MySpace, Warner Music
  Dear Brendan from Wheatus, good points well made......go true indie now...
• Oct 5th, 2009 @ 4:55pm

  Re: Well this is odd

  on Edwyn Collins Can't Give Away His Music Thanks To MySpace, Warner Music
  Hi there Coward...to satiate your curiosity, a little background. Edwyn was the main man in an eighties band called Orange Juice who never troubled the charts in the US but did rather well here in the UK. He nonetheless has some very loyal followers over your way, partly because in addition to being a rather glorious songwriter (biased) he was something of a trail blazer, forming an influential and truly independent label with others in 1979 called Postcard Records of Scotland. This spirit has informed his career throughout; unwilling to sign his life away, he now owns most of his copyrights. We're not that territorial about them. Enthusiastic admirers spreading the word? We're all for it. Grist to the mill.
• Oct 5th, 2009 @ 4:32pm

  (untitled comment)

  on Edwyn Collins Can't Give Away His Music Thanks To MySpace, Warner Music
  Good evening folks, I'm the author of this post. It's true we could sue and it may have to come to that. I wouldn't spend a penny on it. Edwyn (who had a stroke in 2005 and has some speech and language issues) could authorise me to bring a case on his behalf as litigant in person in the British courts. The last time I had to threaten a major with this, in 1994, after six fruitless years of correspondence exchange/stalling, they admitted liability and settled in full. In that case, as I believe in this, the company was not malicious, just rubbish at knowing what it does and doesn't own. They own so much, you see, they assume they own everything and attach ISRC codes will nilly. This particular infringement comes from our having licensed the track on a non exclusive basis to be used on a Charlie's Angels soundtrack. Even the business affairs guy at Warner UK whom I have been dealing with seems powerless to wrest the track from the system. Like I say, not evil, just slack and hidebound. We're not bitter or furious, we know our industry well. Edwyn's career spans thirty years. It simply amuses me to hear them wail about copyright theft. I think the word is hubris.
  Edwyn is hail and hearty and after four years hard graft, performing and recording again. These days we don't much sweat the small stuff. And small stuff is an increasingly accurate description of the old behemoth record companies as they flail around desperately trying to protect their "property."