THE Copyright Violation Squad (CVS) was formed in 1992 in an effort to make publicly available certain cultural works which have been suppressed because they theoretically violated copyright law. It is our view at the CVS that, in spite of the questionable legal nature of these releases, they are nonetheless valid products of cultural work — ethically valid in their own right — and as such, deserve to be heard by those who are interested in them. NEW ! Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 21:12:01 +0100 From: matthew fuller Three titles were originally put into redistribution by the CVS. “All of these works are again legally available and are no longer distributed by the CVS.”These were: 1. The CD Plunderphonic, made by Toronto’s Mystery Labs (a.k.a. composer John Oswald). This recording was threatened by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), apparently on behalf of Michael Jackson, for violation of copyright. Oswald was forced to turn over the master tapes and all undistributed copies of the disc were destroyed, in spite of the fact that he was giving them away and had them pressed with money from his own pocket. VISIT the Vacuvox website to find out more about this work. 2. The third title redistributed by CVS is John Oswald’s CD Rubaiyát, which was an application of the Plunderphonic concept to Elektra Record’s back catalog of releases. Elektra got wind of Oswald’s row with the CRIA and decided to commission Oswald to make a work commemorating the 40th anniversary of Elektra records. The promo-only CD EP was withdrawn from circulation by Elektra (someone at the Doors’ estate didn’t like it) and Oswald requested that CVS add it to its roster. VISIT the Vacuvox website to find out more about this work. 3. The single U2 by Negativland. Although it is unclear what the members of U2 think, they allowed their management to file suit against Negativland and SST Records, and rack up some $70,000 in legal fees. Once again, the master tapes were turned over to the plaintiff and all remaining copies of the single in all formats were destroyed. In addition, the copyright, which was held by Negativland/SST was turned over to Island, making them the “owner” of the recorded work. VISIT the Negativland website. How to Get Your Copy All of the works mentioned on this page are currently available on line as Mp3 sound files. Many more similar works are also available at Detritus.net. CVS Bulletin A spin-off from this activity was the release in 1993 of the first and only issue of “The Bulletin of the Copyright Violation Squad”. It presents a variety of views surrounding the issue of copyright, particularly as it pertains to music. Features include countering views from Negativland and their former record lable SST, as well as essays by Luke McGuff and Fortner Anderson. You can download and read the “CVS Bulletin, first dispatch” in PDF format. READ the
CVS Bulletin [PDF, 1 MB]. |
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