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No-trade ethics and the statute of limitations

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:12 pm
by Xenu
Hey all,

So quick question of morality. Several years ago, I helped to put together a two CD set of outtakes by a 1960s group I'm particularly fond of. I didn't originate the material...it was sent to me, I assembled it, made (spectacularly shitty) artwork, and helped distribute by torrent.

Some of the material included in this original batch was originally emphasized as do not trade, in that we didn't have "clearance" from the bandmembers to send it around. This, of course, was several years ago. I seemingly can no longer get in contact with the original distributer of the material, and he was the one who has the band contacts...in other words, I have no idea if the embargo still holds.

Thoughts?

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:04 pm
by Andreas
You should at least share the artwork. :)

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:51 pm
by Xenu
Well, I should've been more clear: the material in question was never distributed. We did two volumes, but it didn't include the material that was embargoed.

My question: should I go ahead and start sending it around, or attempt to clear it?

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:45 pm
by elcelc
I'd look around to see if it's already been "liberated" as they like to say in the torrent world. I don't know how many times I got trades that I had to keep hush-hush only to find that everyone else had the same thing already and we were keeping it secret for no particular reason. If it's out, than you're off the hook- release it. If not, well, hmm, is your supplier going to cut you off? Sounds like that's already the case- release it.

From my experience, the no-trade clause only acted to slow down the trading of a particular item and help disguise its source. If it was all over the place pretty quickly, people seem to be more at ease saying, "Yeah I got it from Joe." If it slowly leaked out over a couple years, I would hear, "Well I was supposed to keep this quiet but..."

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:57 am
by Matt
Consider the possible repercussions that may happen if you do spread this around.
Will this possibly cause problems for you? Is it really worth it? Do you feel that other people would really love to hear this?

Personally, I would attempt to clear it. Whatever you do, make sure you archive the material if it truly is special.

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:24 pm
by Xenu
It's not out, as far as I can tell. Thing is, I'm unsure if I'm even supposed to bring up what it specifically is. It isn't solid gold, or anything; I'm not hoarding anything of particular, cosmic significance. I just think it'd be spiffy to set it free.

But yeah, I want to avoid repercussions, both for myself and for the people who entrusted it to me. I suppose I should try to clear it.

Re:

Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2011 5:53 pm
by Jeff T.
Xenu wrote:It's not out, as far as I can tell. Thing is, I'm unsure if I'm even supposed to bring up what it specifically is. It isn't solid gold, or anything; I'm not hoarding anything of particular, cosmic significance. I just think it'd be spiffy to set it free.

But yeah, I want to avoid repercussions, both for myself and for the people who entrusted it to me. I suppose I should try to clear it.


What did you end up doing with this? Did you find that the material is still rare and does not circulate? If so, it might have been best to keep it that way. But I have circulated, or leaked stuff that I agreed not to. I waited five years for tha major label to do something with it. They dropped the artist and shelved the material (rather then issue it), and had no interest in doing anything with it. So I sent it in to a fan site run by some friends who had given me things previously. The item was all over the internet within a week after I sent it. How exciting!!!!!