Can I Legally Post This To MeFi Music?

March 27, 2007 8:20 PM

Sometime in the early nineties a now long lost friend of mine recorded a cd. I can't seem to locate him and it's been quite a few years since we last talked. I found a copy of his cd and want to post a few of his songs to MeFi Music. (I love the cheesy pop-techno sound of a few of these tunes and the memories they bring back.) I "played" on stage with him (keyboard flourishes...very minimal playing on my part) and spent many hours in the studio with him on more than one occasion during the recording of said cd. Given that information, would posting the songs be an OK thing to do? Are there legal issues?
posted by gummi to MetaFilter Music at 8:20 PM (18 comments total)

Legal or not, they're not your songs, right?
I'd be pretty pissed if someone posted some of my songs from 15 years ago to some website without my knowledge.
posted by chococat at 8:46 PM on March 27, 2007

Thanks. Apologies if I wasted space (and time) with the question.
posted by gummi at 8:46 PM on March 27, 2007

No sweat, gummi. It's come up in one form or another a few times. Opening it up to "music I have some indirect sort of connection to" would kind of dilute both the focus and the sense of direct responsibility that Music has, in my view. There've been a few posts now and then that were a bit tenuous, but it's never become common practice and that's probably for the best.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:59 PM on March 27, 2007

When you track him down, give him five bucks and have him post them himself.
posted by rossination at 8:59 PM on March 27, 2007

Or just gift him an account. (And then verb some other of his nouns while you're at it, too.)
posted by Rhomboid at 9:10 PM on March 27, 2007

Alternate: start blogs on all the free providers (Blogger, LJ, Vox, etc), with one post only, using your friend's name, with the post content being a paragraph identifying you in such a way that he'll know who you are, and a non-robot-readable way to get in touch (a disposable Gmail account, say, used only for that). If he ever Googles himself, he might just become not-long-lost again.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:06 AM on March 28, 2007 [3 favorites]

Then gift him up and all that stuff, after much rejoicing.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:06 AM on March 28, 2007

Gosh, I wonder what groovy things Matt has in mind for making MeFiMusic a snazzier destination?

Psssst, cortex: now that you're a mod and all, any insider information on that? You can email all us MeFiMusical types...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:35 AM on March 28, 2007

It's better to ask forgiveness than permission.
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 1:05 AM on March 28, 2007

it's better to ask forgiveness than permission.

Not on the intertubes - because it's not so much about you than it is the entire world having access to something you didn't create in your name.

If you must do that. GYOFB
posted by Sparx at 3:37 AM on March 28, 2007

It's better to ask forgiveness than permission.

I though that it was easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Crucial difference.
posted by grouse at 3:44 AM on March 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

If this is a CD your friend made (and distributed) independently, I don't think the legal aspect would be your main concern, as it is unlikely that you (or Matt) would get sued. I think the main concern would be if your friend would be pissed if he found the songs.

It's tricky territory, I believe. I don't think there would be terrible consequences (in this particular case), but it could make it uncomfortable between you two. Perhaps stavros' suggestion is the best.

Now, I'm joining flapjax's request for information. We want to know. We want to know. We want to know. We want to know.

Also, judging by the comments, this song sounds very interesting, but it got nixed in the recent server transfer. Any chance it could be fixed?
posted by micayetoca at 5:57 AM on March 28, 2007

cortex: It's come up in one form or another a few times.

I thought the subject might have, and tried to look for posts regarding this. Had I found them, I wouldn't have posted the question.

Thinking about it, I totally agree with your take on this.

rossination, Rhomboid, and stav: Thanks for the input.

I missed the point of MeFi Music entirely. And for this, I am shamed.

*weeps a thousand tears*
posted by gummi at 1:34 PM on March 28, 2007

*weeps a thousand tears*

Don't overdo it. 96 Tears will be suffucient.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:47 PM on March 28, 2007

Hmmm... "suffucient". I like that.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:48 PM on March 28, 2007

Hmmm... "suffucient".

That'd be 'sufficient' spoken with a New Zealand accent, while eating fush and chups.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:46 PM on March 28, 2007

I thought the subject might have, and tried to look for posts regarding this. Had I found them, I wouldn't have posted the question.

Oh, heh. I wasn't very clear, and didn't mean to imply "this has been done to death" in any way. While I think there have probably been a couple meta threads that touched at least incidentally on the subject, what I meant was that it has come up in practice—I can remember probably three or four songs that, by their writeup, seemed to be treading into this sort of friend-of-friend territory, but it's never been something that gained any observable traction, which is for the best.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:43 AM on March 29, 2007

Got it. Thanks again for the feedback, everyone.
posted by gummi at 9:10 AM on March 29, 2007