Bredonborough.

11.10

As I was getting into bed last night, in clean pajamas, I found that somehow WillyFred had managed to piss on my right trouser-leg.

Rising to a grey day.

Morning reading I…



II...



On p146 of Kenneth E. Goodpaster’s Conscience And Corporate Culture is this…



Principle 3. Corporate behavior: Beyond the letter of law towards a spirit of trust.

With the exception of legitimate trade secrets, a corporation should recognize that sincerity, candor, truthfulness, the keeping of promises, and transparency contribute not only to the credit and stability of business activities but also to the smoothness and efficiency of business transactions, particularly at the international level.

The casual visiting innocent to this Diary may note that DGM/ Panegyric/KC/RF corporate-encounters do not provide much evidence that the above principle has been widely adopted by much of the music industry. So, why rattle on about the ethical company?

One quick answer: to provide a template against which to match:

1.    actual behavior;
2.    claims made for behaviour, and the actual behavior.

The distance between Good/Best Practice and the actuality is clearly revealed; light is shone on dark places; this acts to gradually undermine those who behave improperly and their Works Of Darkness. Dark Works impinge negatively, sometimes catastrophically, upon the lives of others who have little recourse to resolution. Where common justice is most uncommon, seen to be uncommon, and formal approaches to providing justice is revealed as unreliable and/or available only to a privileged few, justice will be pursued informally. At a certain point, this becomes dangerous to the larger society. So, better that accountability, owning-up, fairness and distributive justice becomes the actuality – and soon.

Beginning the process of catching-up.

11.31    Moving right along from here to here…

Diary visitors may have gathered that much of my professional life is directed towards words beginning with i - infractions, infringements and irresponsibilities. In this morning’s catching-up, one topic relates to copyright violations in Toyah’s world. The Minx has written to an adviser…


I’ve had a SUMMARY ROYALTY REPORT off Suss-Geezer Publishing! asking for an invoice to be raised for a few dollars................ 
the envelope is hand written in green ink.........this is the ink of choice for loony hate mail in my experience, AND it is in spidery writing.



let me know if you'd like a copy to throw darts at.

From the Toyah-adviser… how can someone provide a royalties report without a contractual agreement upon which to base the calculation of royalties?

That’s a very good question. There are precedents and answers available from my own professional life. Perhaps, amending the above … how can someone not provide a royalties report over four accounting periods, let alone without a contractual agreement upon which to base the calculation of royalties?  Over to Rough Music for future-answers to that one.

16.35    From the DGM/KC/RF/Panegyric world of i-Words: a concerned DGM Enthusiast wrote to Grooveshark, where KC material is available to the surprise of our Enthusiast. Grooveshark’s Director of Content Acquisition replied:

… as a fan of King Crimson, I wanted to personally reach out to you. I wanted to clarify a few things for you. Grooveshark does not offer downloads. We are a streaming music site. While listening to King Crimson there are links available to buy the downloads at AmazonMP3 or iTunes. Further, we have a licensing deal with EMI pays out for all King Crimson streams coming from Virgin Records or Caroline Distribution… I'd really like to explain this to (Declan Panegyric) and hopefully we could reach a direct deal for the rest of the catalog that DGM controls. Thanks for your email and I'm really glad to know that at least some of our users our Crimson/Fripp fans!

This is an interesting one: we have a licensing deal with EMI pays out for all King Crimson streams coming from Virgin Records or Caroline Distribution. The keen-eyed and quick-brained visitor will wonder how the Grooveshark licensing deal works when, as has been often mentioned in this Diary, EMI/Virgin/Caroline have no rights in any KC material, digital or otherwise (and neither do UMG nor Lakeshore Entertainment). What’s going on here?

From Declan Panegyric…

Hi Mr. Grooveshark Director Of Content Acquisition,

I represent King Crimson & DGM.


Mr. DGM Enthusiast is, of course, completely correct in his assertion.



Unauthorised streaming or MP3 giveaways - it amounts to the same thing - copyright theft.



Why is it that music thieves (I get the same shit from last.fm, Russian bootleg sites, dodgy t-shirt sellers on eBay) always start off with the "as a fan of King Crimson line"?



Is there some sort of finishing school for copyright thieves that you all have to go to that tells you it's an essential opening line.

"Please insert the name of the artists whose rights you wish to abuse.. please ensure that you identify yourself as a fan of Britney Spears/Sun Ra/Reverend Gary Davis/Lady Ga-Ga/King Crimson/any other artist" - delete as appropriate..

"

Emphasise that, as a fan you'd like to steal even more of their music, but will comply with takedown notices if forced to..even if this is offensive to your sensibilities as the No. 1 fan of Britney or whoever.."



In any event, I've seen it too often. It cuts no ice, carries no weight, has been done to death. It doesn't work.



To quote Bob Dylan at Manchester in 1966 "I Don't Believe You.."



Perhaps you're a Dylan fan also, in which case you can complete the quote for yourself.



If all the "fans" of King Crimson acted like the people claiming to be "fans", stealing their work, the band members would have gone bankrupt long ago.



Thankfully, the band's true fans believe musicians should be paid for their work & support the band, by buying music, buying merchandise, going to concerts when the band tours & alerting us to false claims such as those made in your email.



For the record, Virign records & Caroline Records have no authority or legal basis upon which to license King Crimson material to Grooveshark or any other online source.



If they have done so, please provide me with details.

I'm sure Mark Furman - a senior lawyer at Virgin Records will have no problem confirming for you that this is the case.



As for DGM & Panegyric, we regard Grooveshark as an illegal, parasitic, service trying to cream money from the abuse of copyright & allowed to exist only via a loophole in the US DCMA.



We regularly ask Grayzone to patrol & order you to take down our material & will continue to do so.

At the risk of repeating myself, if, for whatever reason, you are carrying King Crimson material provided by EMI, UMG or any other third party, please provide me with full details by return & arrange for ALL of it to be taken down IMMEDIATELY.



Oh, & Aaron, if you care about music, try to find a job that doesn't involve fucking over the musicians whose music you claim to be a fan of.



Declan Panegyric

Please note: Robert Fripp often quotes relevant music industry material in his online diary pages to highlight some of the struggles musicians face in trying to get fair recompense for their artistry and work.

Should Robert wish to use any of the above such permissions as are necessary are hereby granted by me as author.

From my own e-letter…

Dear Mr. Grooveshark Director Of Content Acquisition,

firstly, this confirms declan's authority to act on behalf of myself and King Crimson.

secondly, as declan has given me permission to post his letter, this will be included in my online DGM Diary for today as an example of continuing industry infractions.

thirdly, please take no further interest in any aspect of KC/RF professional lives.

yours sincerely, rf.

Just another day in the life of the professional player.

18.24    The Minx and myself are both dribbling. To an early gentling.