Are you bored of covermount CDs? I bloody well am. After discussing the topic of tape/comp trading on the Rock Sound forums I decided I could do better. Granted I understand magazines have to make money and to do that they need most bands to pay for their place on the freebies, its all promotion at the end of the day! But if i'm honest I never bother listening to them anymore because I fear that sense of deja vu that afflicts me 99.9% of the time.
So today I decided to make a compilation of my own, one I hope (if this little venture is sucessful) will be the first of more in a series i've decided to call FALSE. Its a free compilation i'll send to anyone who wants one, keep in mind my production is limited to about 15/20 give or take how much I can spend at the postal office and copies i'm able to burn. So if they prove popular and go out fast be quick to ask for one! Heres the tracklist incase you were wondering...



Admittedly this volume might not appeal to you lot (I was more commited to the RS forum this time around) but i'm considering making the next one more extreme in orientation, though still just as eclectic. I'm hoping that eventually this thread will encourage people to make their own trading compilations though there are no strings attached if you want a copy.

Digital version?

great idea, good luck with it!

'tis legal? just checking

aye but it's still illegal to copy and/or distribute someone else's copyrighted material (or even non-copyrighted, but with IPR (intellectual property rights)). at least i'm pretty sure it is.

i wonder why you don't just contact the bands (presumably all unsigned and gagging for exposure) and get them on board. sure it's not like the good old days of tape trading but at least you'd be legally covered. i'm not saying you shouldn't do this, just that you should be aware of your obligations if you do.

just think you should look into this a bit more closely before doing anything. these days with recessions etc a lot of people would jump at the chance to sue and get some cash off some poor bugger who didn't get permission for something like this. especially since you're announcing it in detail on an international forum of music lovers, record labels and distros

Trading is quite an interesting thing on the legal side.
As long as you don't keep the CD or make a copy of it and pass it on technically i don't think it is illegal as you've not kept hold of anything.
Essentially it is how streaming sites get round piracy issues and hard to shut down.

Arrived today Belly, listening to it now.

if you're taking tracks off a tape, cd or online and putting it onto another bit of media (tape, cd, mp3 etc) then that requires permission from the copyright holder, because you are duplicating.

taking a tape/cd you own and simply giving it to somebody without taking payment is fine.

making a compilation tape/cd is the latter example, and needs permission to do first. the only alternative without getting the bands on board is to literally "compile" a bunch of the original tapes/cds and post them all in a big pack. but that's not gonna happen is it

so as long as the top example isn't happening you'll be fine, otherwise... well it's up to you.

my own personal thought on this is that it's a GREAT idea generally speaking - i wish more people traded these days (I don't due simply to time problems).

but i think in order to do this legit-like you really ought to go down the legal route and just get the bands on board. how much work would that be? "can i stick your latest demo on a comp tape for a mate?" or "can i stick this track from your album on a tape?". the former is easy, since demos aren't ever sold (unless they're greedy bastards), but the latter....

i'm really quite against the whole deal with taking somebody's music and putting it out there for free. yeh, you're not making any money from it, but then the artist isn't either... yes, demo spreading = exposure = future sales but artists need to live in the short-term, not the long. well, there was a big discussion on this in the mag a few issues back I'm sure you've read up on it.

simple answer is to get the bands on board. bingo.

After reading all of Alex York's posts i'm worried about continuing this little of venture. That CD wasn't exactly full of unsigned bands, The Presets spring to mind as a fairly popular act. I was even consider putting a M.I.A. track on the next one. I imagine getting permission from bigger artists like them might be difficult.

Just out of interest, did you get many people wanting a copy/take part?
If so, could set up a group via email where people just e-mail each other with what ever their latest comp' is and then see who wants it.
May only start of small but if people stick with it, it will grow in time.
That way there is no forums where the hosts (ZT or RS for example) can get in trouble, nobody record label/artists will prob even know of it.