A LETTER TO LUCIEN GRAINGE
Posted by
Sid Smith
on Aug 15, 2012
- This post is archived and may no longer be relevant
Sometimes the artist has to call it as they see it.
And if our artists don't, our society is close to dying.
Just sent to Mr. Lucien Grainge, Power Possessor
Numero Uno, Universal Music Group, NYC…
Subject:
Re: King Crimson - UMG - EC Divestment package
dear mr. grainge,
UMG is prepared to divest itself of a number of its
properties in order to acquire EMI. one of these properties is... King Crimson.
yet UMG has no rights nor entitlements to King
Crimson.
this is one small example of what happens when a
large, dopey company acquires smaller companies, or whatever levels of
dopiness; and indicative of six years of grief, obfuscation, evasion, opacity
and copyright violation that has characterised our dealings with UMG.
better, for example, that UMG employ a top London
lawyer to refuse to give us information ("i am not prepared to litigate by
e-mail"), than to give us information (eg non-payment of Summers &
Fripp royalties for 19 years, accounting on unlicensed downloads of KC
material)?
if we trust what someone does, rather than what
they say they do, UMG's answer is: "yes - better to pay a top London
lawyer than pay you".
when law ceases to serve justice, it ceases to be
law.
once this is widely felt to be so, the implications
are alarming: the music ceases to be harmonious, and moves increasingly
towards Rough Music.
your tim smith in UK Business Affairs spent three
years telling us that UMG did not acquire Sanctuary. yet, if you believe
yourself to be able to divest itself of King Crimson, presumably you believe
that UMG did acquire Sanctuary. if so, why did your Business Affairs lawyer
tell us this was not the case?, and over an extended period of time?
The Four Pillars of The Ethical
Company
Honesty
Responsibility
Equity
Goodwill
transparency + straightforwardness =
honesty
accountability + owning-up =
responsibility
distributive justice + fairness =
equity
common decency = goodwill
time to own up, dude.
sincerely, rf (King Crimson copyright owner /
controller)
