OT a bit- RIAA, game show themes, and the fans

[PeterMarshallFan]

With all this stuff going around about the RIAA suing that 12-year old girl and the 80-year old grandmother, tell me honestly: could any of us possibly be next on the hit list for collecting game show themes?


IMO, when they start suing the fans of game show music for whatever they think we did wrong, it's gone way too far. It's not like Edd Kalehoff or Hal Hidey are all over the news crying about their songs. And there's not a gigantic market for them anyway, so who knows.......

[daveromanjr]

My thoughts are: if I download something and I like it, I will buy the CD... IF its available.  In most cases with gameshow stuff, none of it is available besides the stuff on the two theme cds from a couple years ago.  I personally thing the RIAA are taking this a tad far... I mean really, what could possibly make a CD I just purchased cost $19.99?  

If I were also to hear that a GS composer did not want his/her work let out to the public, I would honestly delete his/her stuff OR pay them to keep it.  Simple as that.

[Skynet74]

[quote name=\'daveromanjr\' date=\'Sep 10 2003, 08:19 PM\'] If I were also to hear that a GS composer did not want his/her work let out to the public, I would honestly delete his/her stuff OR pay them to keep it.  Simple as that. [/quote]
 
  Would you really HONESTLY delete songs if a composer suddenly had a problem with you having a copy???  I can HONESTLY say that I would still keep a copy. Guess I don't have the morals that you do.



John

[daveromanjr]

[quote name=\'Skynet74\' date=\'Sep 10 2003, 08:11 PM\']
  Would you really HONESTLY delete songs if a composer suddenly had a problem with you having a copy???  I can HONESTLY say that I would still keep a copy. Guess I don't have the morals that you do.



John [/quote]
 I guess not.

[Matt Ottinger]

Everything I've read about the RIAA suggests that they're mostly going after heavy hitters (1000 or more downloads) but with just enough \"average guy\" targets to keep you guessing.  It's basically the \"fear of God\" approach, hoping that a bunch of you will be frightened off by the stories of prosecution.

I go back to my analogy about speeding on the interstate.  The more you do it, the more likely it is that you're going to get caught.  But if you're careful and keep a relatively low profile, I doubt you have much to worry about.

[drmusic_99]

I would guess the RIAA only has jurisdiction on commercially released products. In other words, if your game show themes came off of a CD, or are available on one, or ever were, then it's likely under the purview of the RIAA. Anything swapped around by privale collectors, that came off a studio master or elsewhere, the RIAA would have nothing to do with.

[Dan Sadro]

drmusic_99 is right.  The RIAA would not have jurisdiction over anything but commercially-released products such as the two game show CDs, as well as some that go way back (possibly the Chuck Barris themes LP, pieces of stock music that were used as game show themes and were commercially released*), if they were released on RIAA labels.  Since much game show music is not commercially released, individual composers and the ASCAP tend to be in charge of the copyright infringement.  If you copied a master reel without consent from the composer, that's copyright infringement.

The fact of the matter is, since there is little to no financial gain from suing private collectors, as long as the music isn't being used for profitable ventures there is little risk of suing.  And Matt O. is right, just don't be stupid about it.

* Think Pop Promotion, a cue from the 1972 version of The Joker's Wild.  It has been commercially released and could fall under the cloud of the RIAA.

[PeterMarshallFan]

Hmmm...interesting. I guess going by producers, the one producer whose shows had more commercially released themes would be Bob Stewart. He had Face is Familiar \"Brasilia\" by Herb Alpert], Eye Guess [\"Sugar Lips\" by Al Hirt], Personality [IIRC], and The Love Experts [\"Spring Rain\" by Silvetti] using already-released songs. But honestly, I haven't seen the original version of \"Spring Rain\" anywhere in over 20 years, if that makes any difference.


Like Dan said, the private collectors ain't worth going after. [Nevermind the fact I'd probably countersue for invasion of privacy. What makes them think they can hack people's computers w/o warning?]