Putting up a Music Website (and doing it legally)

You may have noticed a comment on this page by an institution named “The Web Sheriff”. This british-based institution apparently protects the interests of artists on the Internet. Now I would be the first to admit that there is a problem with “peer to peer” technology damaging the record business, and while I feel for the artists who are losing revenue (apart from the superstars, who have more money than they could ever spend anyway), I have little to no sympathy for the big record companies, who seem to have been in eternal slumber over the last 20 years, and having slept through the development of the Internet, they missed their chances - which ultimately made p2p a force to be reckoned with in the first place.

With the introduction of the CD as a replacement for vinyl records, the prices soared…. although the technical process of making a CD is much simpler then making a vinyl record. The record companies filled their pockets as music lovers started replacing their favourite records with CDs. But this is not the path I would like to go down now…

With the continuing success of the Internet and the introduction of Web 2.0, it has become (technically) easy for any fan to set up a fan site on the web. I say technically, as he has a lot of things to contend with if he wants to do it successfully. The big question is: Can you imagine a fan website these days without pics, video and sound clips?

Some of you will know that I am involved with Germanys best blues/jazz singer Caro and have set up 2 official fan sites, one in German and one in English, so I think I’m qualified to talk about this…

My experiences?
On the positive side, I have to say that I have not yet met a photographer who objected to me putting his pics on the website - as long as I asked him first!

Music and videos? Forget it! The difficulties start to arise when you have dealings with record companies. They are so unflexible, its just unbelievable. Of course with Caro, I have the advantage that her recent songs have been published by Chappalingo Entertainment, which is her husband, so no worries there; her last album “Eternity” appeared on the Adhip Record Label - again her husband. But a while ago I thought it would be nice to add videos from her glorious past (70’s). One video I had in mind was broadcast about 1980 on a certain German TV channel. This is where the problems start.

To publish this video on my website I need the following permissions (and dont forget, all these institutions want to earn money) :

• The German TV channel for the moving pictures
• The publisher of the song for the sound, because it was sung playback
• The record company who released the record for the sound, because it was sung playback
• GEMA, the governing body in Germany that look after the interests of the artists.

I reached an agreement with the TV channel and their agency (they were both very helpful)
GEMA is no problem because I only have to present them with the rights to put this video into the internet
The publisher and the record company?

Whilst talking to the director of the agency working with the TV channel, he told me the following things. - The record company involved is not interested in their back catalogue, so I’ll license you the moving pics and you put it on the internet. If they ask about the video, just say you’re promoting the album. If you send them an official request, you’ll just get nowhere. Enough said? This video still isn’t on the page…

Web Sheriff. While I appreciate your work, the question has to be asked: Why is it so difficult to put music on the internet? Why dont the record companies realize what chances they have in this field? And foremost, why isnt there some institution out there that helps the thousands of webmasters to get things setup properly and legally without meeting problems at every corner?

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