The Ghost Concert
Music lovers in North Carolina are due for a strange treat next month.
They will hear two piano virtuosi in concert… but both musicians are long dead.
The music will be played on a grand piano that has been specially programmed to give a note-perfect, live rendition of ancient recordings made by Alfred Cortot in 1928 and Glenn Gould in 1962.
Hosted by Zenph
Ghost concert to revive music of the past
This is a fascinating proposition… Think of all those old blues, jazz, and folk recordings on wax cylinder that could in fact be “digitally restored” to their magnificent source.
Will the music of the future really be the music of the past?
On a side note, this brings up an interesting affect on songwriting and sharing. As many of you know this site has seen quite a few posts/comments concerning Creative Commons Licensing schemes. Here’s a fact that not many critics of derivative works think about. An artist allowing his work to be sampled and/or manipulated is not only a patron of the arts but allowing others an opportunity to become successful that might not have had a chance otherwise.
Think about Moby, The Beastie Boys, NWA, etc… Without Parliament, James Brown, and a ton of other jazz and R&B musicians of the past there would have been a lot less successful careers. Those careers aren’t limited to just the performers; I’m talking about engineers, producers, designers, retailers, promoters, etc… Sampling potentially feeds hundreds, thousands, or possibly millions families worldwide that would have otherwise had to find other (possibly less lucrative) means of success. Taking hip-hop into consideration sampling has practically given birth to an entire industry. Not only has the music flourished but clothing, magazines, books, pro-audio equipment, electronics equipment, even the video game industry might not be in the same place without sampling.
Allowing derivative works is entrepreneurial. Not only are you allowing others to succeed were they might not have, but your allowing the industry to progress in ways unpredictable. The success of this “ghost concert” might very well help an entirely new industry thrive. With today’s copyrights continually renewing and becoming ever stricter this purposed new industry may have never been given a chance.
If you’re a songwriter and it irks you to imagine some “thief” getting rich off “your music.” Stop and think a moment. Henry Ford took numerous inventions and ideas and turned them into one of the largest industries this world has ever seen. Both I and my wife’s family are direct beneficiaries of Mr. Ford’s application of existing technologies. So what if he’s a thief? He’s directly and indirectly helped far more people than the original minds behind those inventions could have ever dreamed.
Now wait just a damn minute! When the hell did you get married!?
Exposed!
Tony, I thought this was going to be one of those back-and-forth sessions we both love so much.
Jeff asked the same thing after this post. It’s awesome ‘cause it not only shows that you guys are very attentive readers but also that you *care* (sarcasm)…
Mary and I got married in Sept’. It was secret for awhile because we had plans to have an actual wedding later on. Now that both of us have been excommunicated those plans have quickly faded, kidding.
We are planning on having a reception when things calm down in Mary’s crazy school schedule and we can do it up proper… That means no meat on the menu and other crazy tree-hugging ideals.
So basically, no one will want to attend.
Well, then, I guess congratulations are in order!
I plan to comment on the topic when I have more time…tomorrow probably.
Hey I was just thinking…as a vegetarian, are you allowed to drink Beefeater gin?
I believe its alright given Beefeater is a term referring to Yeomen Warders and James Burroughs was simply trying to think up a name for his gin that would embody its hearty, full bodied nature; hence naming it after the Beefeaters.
Of course, I would have preferred if he named it Portobellomushroomeaters Gin or something similar. I mean come on! What’s more hearty that Portobello’s?!
No kidding. Who needs steak when I can order me a big ol’ juicy slab of fungus?
Exactly…
I agree with almost every thing you’re saying, Randy. As long as the sampler has the permission of the samplee, I’m all for it. And the ghost concert idea is very cool as long as the copyright holder gives the OK.
However, it cannot be denied that using someone else’s work without permission, especially for commercial purposes, amounts to thievery.
Also, I take issue with the Henry Ford example. Let’s say John Doe invented a gizmo in 1905 that improved some aspect of a car’s operation. Let’s also say that John’s assistant got angry one day at John because he was refused a raise and walked into Henry Ford’s office offering to let Ford in on the plans for this gizmo, which was in the final stages of development and had not yet been patented, in exchange for a hefty sum of money. Ford was glad to oblige. John, who had mortgaged all his possessions to fund the creating of the gizmo, never made a dime from his work, lost everything he owned and died in the gutter, possibly after going insane and beating his young, pretty wife to death with a length of pipe.
According to you, Ford is the hero of the story, right? And justice for John Doe was and is unimportant? I find it hard to believe that you really think that way, Randy. What if instead of an car-related invention, the story was about a computer program of some kind? And what if the guy who wrote that program wasn’t John Doe, but, say…oh, i don’t know…Randy Bishop, for example? Would the benefit of the masses still outweigh the the justice of one man in that case?
The bottom line is that no matter how many people can benefit through the pilfering of ideas, it’s still unethical, especially when there exist avenues for the legal use of another person’s ideas.
I agree. The point I was trying to make with Ford only rings true if Ford was using something that the originator allowed him to use. This was true in the case of the automobile. Ford built his first auto from a kit, much like Dell, Apple, or HP build CPUs with existing parts not manufactured by them.
If you discover something through unethical means at most you’re stealing and at least you’re taking advantage of someone. Microsoft did it with Apple’s OS and Apple did it with Xerox’s mouse/GUI. Both corporations used and abused the originators of the modern computer interface. Yet, without Apple or Microsoft would Xerox had turned its idea into what we see today? I don’t really know…