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http://www.archive.org/details/Complete ... s1930-1932


Hit of the Week recordings, 1930-1932! I'm really excited to have found this. I'm trying to download these and burn them to a cd to listen to in the car.

Great stuff!

That's really something!

I wonder what the folks over at Archeophone think of this, with their four-volume set they've done?
I have the set (8 discs)which covers all the music issues, plus several advertising and demo tracks. I really like the job they did with their transfers!
Bob

I would hope the stuff uploaded at archive isn't the Archeophone work, that wouldn't be fair (to say the least.)

I tried to download the .zip but was unsuccessful. Anyone else have trouble?

Wolfe wrote:I would hope the stuff uploaded at archive isn't the Archeophone work, that wouldn't be fair (to say the least.)

I don't think the achive.org files were ripped from the Archeophone cd's. The Archeophone cd's sound way better than these mp3's!

This is great! And I do not worry about ripping off Archeophone. Every CD nowadays has a digital signature to identify them, that cannot be removed via normal techniques. The recordings are well out of copyright, the restorations aren't. Contrary to what many people think, copyright exists of three components: composer's rights, artist rights AND restorer's rights. If I restore a record that is out of copyright, the rights of the restoration are legally mine. Nobody is allowed to make it available to the public without my permission.
I'm not too worried about my work, I want to make the music available as wide as possible. But when you restore for a living, it hurts to see your work being used by others.
So I will only use this library for listening to myself.

syncopeter wrote: I'm not too worried about my work, I want to make the music available as wide as possible. But when you restore for a living, it hurts to see your work being used by others.

Right. These small historical labels are probably running break even (at best) these days. And they also now have to contend with being undercut by other, usually budget line, CD labels, ripping off their stuff, and repackaging it in ultra cheap box sets with crappy artwork and liner notes. The music itself just being compiled from various secondary sources.

bart1927 wrote:[

I don't think the achive.org files were ripped from the Archeophone cd's. The Archeophone cd's sound way better than these mp3's!

Well, that's good.

I wouldn't know as I haven't boughted the Archeophone discs.

syncopeter wrote: Contrary to what many people think, copyright exists of three components: composer's rights, artist rights AND restorer's rights. If I restore a record that is out of copyright, the rights of the restoration are legally mine.

Well, maybe in Europe, but in the USA not so much. Artists have no rights to copyright per se, at least not once they sign with a publisher. For a sound recording, copyright exists for the publisher of the song and the publisher of the record. Of course the artist may or may not be one of these publishers.

As for restorer's rights, US copyright law clearly states that creativity is required for copyright to apply. Restoration, by its very nature, is at attempt to create something that already existed, not something new. While I'm not familiar with a sound recording case on this point, there is a well known case (Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel) that established this pretty well for print media.

Also, the commonly held 1923 cutoff for public domain in the USA does not apply to sound recordings, which technically were not covered by Federal copyright law until 1972(!) Recordings made prior to that date are covered by a myriad of state laws, most of which have no expiration dates. It's so much simpler in Europe where anything published more than 50 years ago is public domain, period.

In the USA, about the only truly public domain recordings are the Edison recordings, which were acquired by the US Government and are therefore automatically public domain. And once again, that's the recordings, not the songs. If you publish the Diamond Disc version of Rhapsody in Blue, the recording is PD, but the song is still covered by copyright!

In the case of Archeophone and similar CDs, it's an interesting middle ground. Those companies definitely own a copyright on the CD as published, because selecting and sequencing tracks is considered "Creative" for US copyright purposes. However, that does not mean copyright applies to the individual tracks!

Standard disclaimer - I'm not a lawyer, I don't even play one on TV, YMMV, don't run with scissors, etc. Supplemental/contradictory info is most welcome, especially if cited!

(Minor edits for spelling.)

I was fortunate to purchase CD-Rs directly from Doug Benson on eBay some years ago -- he later did the restorations of the HOTWs on Archeophone. There were a total of 7 discs (3 for the 3-minute- and 4 for the the 5-minute records). So I never did repurchase them on Archeophone, despite the superior documentation and pressings. Doug's restorations are remarkable in any case. Anyone really interested in these should investigate the Archeophone series and support quality restoration. He also did the really superb transfers on that label of the King Oliver Gennett, OKeh, and Columbia acoustics.