When trying to search for information about an unknow russian composer I stumbled across this site:
http://www.classical-music-online.net/ (http://www.classical-music-online.net/)
Has anyone of you heard about it? Can't imagine that this should be legal. Obviously the files are uploaded by users not by the record companies.
Come on, convince me to let my greedy fingers from it!
You actually can find all the Golubev i previously uploaded here :O
Seems like i can start to stop uploading to mediafire :P
Tony
odd to describe Aho's first symphony as his last though, or do I misunderstand...
Many of the files which I checked at this site are very clearly rips of currently-available commercial recordings and therefor illegally infringing copyrights. I'm going to steer well clear and would advise you to do the same.
Quote from: eschiss1 on Saturday 25 June 2011, 04:11
odd to describe Aho's first symphony as his last though, or do I misunderstand...
Nor was Aho 86 when he wrote it. ;) Seems the reviewer has confused two characters?
I wonder if one can deduce who it might be -without- downloading it, just from knowledge of contemporaries (and without assuming that it is a first symphony, but assuming at least at first that it is an orchestral work and a - numbered - symphony :) - that is, that as much of the information is accurate as possible until one can't!) but that sort of game might perhaps be left to private message I suppose. My memory rots at its core for just about everything but music nowadays and I'm only in my 40s...
May I offer an educated guess?
Vaughan Williams wrote his last Symphony in 1956-57 and revised it in 1958 when he was 86. So, perhaps... ;)
Okay, you need not download the files, you can stream them. I did so for a few seconds just to make clear that it IS Aho's first symphony. The reviewer was online and there is a 'add comments' button but it didn't work. No idea how to find out what's going on in his brain. ;)
Hmmm - the opening minutes of the Rybnikov Symphony No.6 sound interesting - powerful.
Any one know of a recording?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall that the Soviets were not signatories to the Berne convention, so that copyright issues are lax with them. There is a similar Russian sheet music site that offers recent publications such as Steven Hough's edition of some late music by York Bowen. Perhaps it is legal to download within Russia itself, but I would suppose not in any country that participates in modern intellectual property right agreements.
Quote from: chill319 on Sunday 26 June 2011, 02:50
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall that the Soviets were not signatories to the Berne convention, so that copyright issues are lax with them. There is a similar Russian sheet music site that offers recent publications such as Steven Hough's edition of some late music by York Bowen. Perhaps it is legal to download within Russia itself, but I would suppose not in any country that participates in modern intellectual property right agreements.
Your first sentence is indeed correct; however, that very laxity is what creates a climate in which Russian download sites frequently transgress, in the sense that, as downloads know no territorial restrictions, making them available from Russia can and often does lead to the open flouting of other nations' copyright laws. I am no expert on Russian intellectual property law, but the Stephen Hough example that you cite surely suggests that what may be legal in Russia has no business to extend to music written by anyone not subject to such laws or lack thereof.
britishcomposer- insects and bells, most likely- must be too loud in there for the reviewer to get stuff quite right. We'll let it slide this time.
I contacted the webmaster just for fun to enquire about the copyright question. Not to frighten him off at the outset I asked if he could confirm that downloads from this site were legal (!) – from a European point of view. He answered immediately:
"i am sorry. i dont understand english. pls send me your message on Russian"
I translated my email with google and sent him two versions to make sure that he would understand. (One translation from German and one from English to Russian). This was his answer:
"Sorry, I could not understand the contents of this letter"
So much for that...
Hi Mathias - copy/paste this to him:
Могли бы Вы, пожалуйста, подтвердить, что контент на Вашем сайте легальный? Какие законы об авторском праве регулируют его?
(it says "Can you confirm that the downloads on your website are legal? What copyright laws are they covered by?")
And let me know if you want anything else in Russian!
Thanks, Christopher!
I have sent another email but I have a strange suspicion that he understood fairly well what I asked... ;)
Let's see!
Here is the answer, Christopher! Would you like to give us a neat translation, please! :)
I tried google but didn't quite understand...
Здравствуйте, Mathias.
Этот сайт - некоммерческий проект, созданный для систематизации и популяризации классической и современной академической музыки. Записи загружают сами пользователи (многие из которых сами являются композиторами или проф. музыкантами). При загрузке каждый пользователь обязательно предупреждается, что размещение записи не должно нарушить чьи-либо авторские права. К сожалению, мы не в состоянии лично проверить каждый файл, поэтому вынуждены доверять в этом вопросе нашим пользователям. Но все же, если Вы считаете, что та или иная запись может нарушать чьи-либо права, пожалуйста, не слушайте ее и немедленно покиньте эту страницу!
Благидарим за понимание.
It says the following:
Hello Mathias,
This site is a non-commercial project, created for the systematization and popularization of classical and contemporary academic music. The recordings are uploaded by the user themselves (many of whom are themselves composers or professional musicians). At the time of uploading, each user is given notice that distributing/placing recordings must not violate any authorship rights. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to verify each file, therefore it is necessary to trust our users on this issue. But nevertheless, if you have reason to believe that a recording may be in violation of copyright laws, please do not listen to it and leave the page immediately!
Thank you for your understanding.
Hmmm...
Yes, double-hmmmmmmm............
In other words, "we're just the host, it's not our fault if someone violates our guidelines". Most content hosting websites have terms like that.
Quote from: TerraEpon on Wednesday 29 June 2011, 20:55
In other words, "we're just the host, it's not our fault if someone violates our guidelines". Most content hosting websites have terms like that.
... and few get away with it.
The laws of the hosting country do not apply in the U.S. It is my understanding that U.S. citizens are expected to comply with U.S. copyright law. Which would make it illegal for us to download any recordings still covered by U.S. copyright law, no matter who is hosting them.
This became a big issue in the U.S. when the copyright on recordings by major opera stars began emerging from copyright protection in Europe. Recordings by Maria Callas, Caruso, etc, could be legally distributed in Europe because copyright protection had expired. However, in the U.S., where copyright protection lasts longer (and now seems interminable), it remains illegal to distribute or download them.
Naxos encountered this problem with its historic recordings series. Even now, there are Naxos CDs that can be sold everywhere else in the world, but are not available in the U.S.
The frightening thing is that the U.S. has been trying to insert into the international trade agreement currently being renegotiated a policy that would impose much longer and stricter copyright requirements throughout the world. Europe, Australia, Canada and South American countries would be directly affected by this.
The thing is, it evades the legislative processes of all countries, because it is a treaty, not a law, and as such, may not be closely scrutinized and may receive little review or public debate before signing. It's a nasty ploy by the U.S. government, who are in the pockets of the Hollywood music and movie industry.
Luckily, a number of countries caught on to the trick and have been giving the U.S. push back on this issue.
I am very supportive of musicians and the labels, but I am still quite critical of the industry tactics in the U.S. My university was recently sent a notice requiring $250,000 in payment to the RIAA to cover "illegal downloading" via university computer network of music and movies. The RIAA also tracks down and sues individuals. They've sued thousands of them. And as a result, there is now widespread hatred of the industry by the populace, and it has resulted in a revolt of sorts by young people who now brag about having never paid for a single CD or movie, engendering systematic downloading of anything and everything. They've shot themselves in the foot. And unfortunately, labels and artists suffer this consequences of the ill-conceived strategy of the RIAA.
Sorry, rant over. Watch your back.