Dave Lampson wrote:

>[No one can make a living on a recording that is out of print.
>I'm a big believer in copyrights, and have only a handful of
>burned CDs compared to over 7000 purchased.  But in the case
>where a label, especially a big one, won't keep a recording
>in print, then I think it's fair game for private copying.
>It simply makes no sense to thump on the copyright bible
>when there's no other way to get the recording.  -Dave]

While there has been a long standing arguement that demand for out of
print recordings can increase the possibility of something being reissued,
I have never seen it happen with classical music.  Speaking as the owner
of a small label...all of our stuff is in print!  If it ever goes out
of print and your want it, for heaven's sake, copy it!

What bothers me even more...and yes, I do know the laws as I have to
teach them in my class on audio preservation and archives management...is
that one cannot legally acquire broadcast recordings of music performances,
even if a copy resides in another library and even if it would benefit
your research or teaching...or your enjoyment of life, unless you pay
the equivalent of a royal ransom (the union fees) or get permission from
God.

Some years ago friend of mine was doing research in Vienna and had
"access" to the radio archive there.  They had tape recorded performances
in superb sound from the war years.  I cannot imagine what treasures
might reside in some of those European radio archives!  All we can do
is enjoy those items that have circulated from privately copied radio
broadcasts, in sound that is way below what can be found on the original
copies and wonder whatelse might reside in those archives.

Ok, I am on a fantasy trip at the moment...but what if...

All of the archives could make their holdings known via the WEB (that
will never happen as it would take too much money to get it done) and
then we could pay whatever and download what we wanted (with probably
less than 5% of the world's holdings of unique recordings having been
reformatted that is unlikely to ever happen...kinda like an the Apple
music store, but only for those who were interested in obscure repertoire
and unreleased performances of the great musicians of the past...

Karl in never never land.