Music Exchange!
My dorm did this the summer before I came to college as a get-to-know-you exercise, and it was a bunch of fun! I thought it would be fun to do here :), hopefully there is enough interest in the idea!
The way it works: a bunch of people sign up (and give their mailing addresses), and the coordinator (me) makes a list, like this:
Person 1
Person 2
Person 3
Person 4
Person 5
Then, Person 1 burns a CD of all their favorite music and sends it to Person 2. Person 2 copies all of the music from Person 1's CD to their computer, burns another CD full of their own music, and sends BOTH CDs to Person 3. Person 3 the music from the CDs from Person 1 and Person 2 to their computer, burns a CD of their own music, and passes all THREE CDs to person 4. Person 4 does the same to Person 5, and Person 5 does the same to Person 1.
NOW, person 1 burns Person 2-5's CDs to their computer, and KEEPS the CD that Person 1 made in the first place, sending the other four CDs to person 2. Person two takes their CD out of the running and burns the CDs that Person 3, Person 4 and Person 5 made, and sends those CDs to Person 3. Person 3 does the same, etc, etc. In the end, everyone should have music from every other person, and be left with the CD they originally burned (which you can give to a friend or something).
So for this it is VERY IMPORTANT that EVERYONE does their part. Any one person not sending along CDs will break the entire chain and ruin it for a lot of people. So, as the coordinator I'll make the first CD (since I've participated in this type of exchange before, it seems more fair for me to be the one not getting any extra music at all in case it breaks down before the first loop). Additionally, I'll make the list of who is sending CDs to whom, and notify/remind people by PM.
You're encouraged to include songs you think most people will like AND more unique, obscure music. Additionally, please let me know if there are specific times when you may not be able to receive your mail for awhile, like if you are going on vacation soon, so I can plan accordingly. (for example, if you're going on vacation right after Valentine's Day and we're all set and ready to go by January 20th, I'll make sure you're high on the list so that you'll be able to receive the first round of CDs and send yours before the vacation).
If you want to join in the fun, just respond here or by PM with your name and mailing address! Let's aim for having everyone who wants to participate "signing up" by January 20th. If some people come later I can tack them on at the end of the list.
Sounds very cool! I would be tempted but postage would probably be a killer (from Canada).
Argg. I want to do this but I have no money to at the moment.
Edd: I'm not sure how the postage from Canada to the US looks, but the US --> Canada version doesn't look too bad. The most it could really cost would be $10. If you want to partake, I'd be willing to be the person who ships to you, but you may have to ship back to the US.
In.
Uhhhh. . . that's illegal.
At the University where I work you would be brought up on charges.
I am pretty sure in a format like this it is not...
Vexier, if you end up short on people then let me know and I will join in.
rswhitaker: Hm. When our RAs organized it, they checked with the school and school officials said it was legal as we were not profiting but rather popularizing music artists.
You cannot distribute it profit or not. Sorry to be the wet towel but that is the law.
http://www.musicunited.org/7_faq.html
rswhitaker: I've looked at the link you sent, and a couple other sources, and you appear to be right for copyrighted materials.
Personally, I have enough uncopyrighted music from friends, local bands, small international bands, etc, that I can easily burn a CD completely composed of uncopyrighted songs, and would be more than willing to limit the songs I passed on (or copied from other CDs) to uncopyrighted ones.
I have no disagreement with that. It would be a good thing for friends and local bands but vitrually anything you would buy from iTunes or a music store or Amazon is copyrighted.
We should have musicians that are VW members post links to their original music here. That would be cool.
One more thing to be careful of. A lot of unpublished music is copyrighted. In such cases there are often conditions for distribution from songwriter or artist. For example, I have a collection of original music that I wrote and performed which is copyrighted. I paid $30 for the copyright and the recordings and lyrics are stored by the Library of Congress.
Most don't care if you distribute the works as long as credit is given to the performer and writer with each copy.
rswhitaker: Yes, since you have brought up the issue and much of the music I am most excited to share comes from small international bands, I intend on emailing them and requesting permission to distribute their works, as I am not sure precisely how copyright laws function in other countries--nor do I have a thorough enough grasp of the (foreign) languages to try to weed through the legal documentation myself.
That is a good idea. All you need is an email for proper authorization. I was in a band called Lucy's Bones once and we wanted to use the recognizable bone pattern the 3 million year old hominid "Lucy", that Donald Johansen discovered in Ethiopia in 1969, on our tee shirts.
My band mate contacted Donald Johansen and we were granted permission to use the image as a logo.
International copyrights are different. Registering a US copyright does not prevent people in China from copying it and distributing it. There is a process for international copyright registration but it not so easy. . . you need a copyright attorney for that.
I wanna do this!
I would be keen but don't really have the time and energy to run around emailing bands I've never met to ask permission for songs...
So if it can somehow be straightforward and simple, I am in. Haha.
I would be keen but don't really have the time and energy to run around emailing bands I've never met to ask permission for songs...
So if it can somehow be straightforward and simple, I am in. Haha.
WORD.
Yeah, I think its a little much to email all of them and figure out all of the little branches of different copyrights and which ones who holds, yada yada..
Just sayin' that people make CDs for friends all the time.
Most people don't know it but copying a CDs for friends can get you a $250,000 fine and 5 years in jail. We all do it (yeah me too) but that really is the law in the U.S. There have been a some charged and prosecuted but it is mainly a scare tactic.The fine usually $750 per song up to the maximum of $250,000. The feds are serious about distribution through the US Postal Service or via the internet. You can also face civil charges by the holder of the copyright.