HW:A Few Topics

[Jon Browne]

In message <Pine.OSF.3.95.970418123806.20149B-100000 at csgrad.cs.vt.edu>,
Paul Mather <paul at CSGRAD.CS.VT.EDU> writes
>Well, Doug Smith's "open letter" (http://www.hawkwind.com/dougletter.htm)
>is directed specifically at this release.  Why would he do so if it was
>legit?  I don't understand.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Paul.

As far as I know, when a label goes bust and sells it's assets/catalog
to another label, the new holders of these rights are under no *direct*
obligation to the band. Their contract is entirely with the prior label.
I'm not sure if this the same when rights are licenced out to another
label as is the case here but I would presume so. In this case Trojan
Records appear to be the licence holders. I think it's fair to presume
the licence was bought in good faith. If Trojan did not have the right
to sell this licence, this will come out, as I gather DS is
investigating and more power to him. If you have another look at the
letter, at no point does it actually say this is a pirate or bootleg
production. Before I go on, I want to say I fully agree with everything
DS says in the letter. It misrepresents the band in a number of ways.
Personally I think anything with "Douglas In the Jungle" on it
misrepresents the band, but that's just me. The point is Emporio as far
as I know (at this stage) cannot be sued, forced to withdraw the disc or
even hand over any cash. (Not that there's going to be lot of cash
involved in a record with a dealer price of around 1.50 UKP.) I think it
stinks. But as you see from the letter, the only response it seems is a
boycott. Incidentally, Emporio also put out "The Best Of Friends And
Relations" licenced from Cherry Red, but this seems to have been
overlooked.
--
Jon Browne