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** The Sound Files Manifesto **

Today, I got the most interesting note via Nici's Dixie Chicks discussion
list. It's from a 15-year-old in South Carolina:

>Guess what y'all? When we get our yearbooks you can buy this cd too, that
>has like greatest songs from the year on it. Well anyway, the Dixie Chicks
>"WOS" was on the cd! I was like WOW! That's so phat-o! Not like y'all
>really care...

That made me wonder... how hard was it to get permission from the Dixie
Chicks to reproduce their copyrighted works on your school's CD? Surely
the yearbook's faculty advisory staff knew that you can't redistribute
copyrighted works in their entirety without permission, and you *sure*
can't *sell* them!

Or maybe they didn't know, or maybe they knew but didn't care.

The fact is, though, that the legality of even distributing such works *in
part* and *for free* is a bit fuzzy. I can testify to this personally...
because in November 1998 I got a Cease and Desist letter from the Dixie
Chicks lawyers. Before that date, my site featured short sound samples
from the Dixie Chicks' out-of-print independent releases. These .mp3
samples were 30 seconds to a minute or so long, and helped turn on many
fans to the Dixie Chicks' old bluegrass/Western sound.

The lawyers asserted that the samples were not covered by the "Fair Use"
clause of US copyright law. I disagree with that assertion, but
nonetheless I complied with their demand. Since then, dozens of sites have
made Dixie Chicks sound samples available in a variety of formats. And
now, it seems that this high school has gone as far as to copy an entire
song onto a CD to sell.

The lawyer representing the Chicks' management told the Dallas Observer
that "it's not fair" for me to let you listen to the Chicks' history.
What's not fair is if it's ok to distribute "New Chicks" sound files but
not ok to provide samples of the "Old Chicks" sound.

Fair is fair.

Here's my manifesto, as posted to the discussion list: if the South
Carolina high school didn't secure permission ahead of time, and if they
don't get a "Cease And Desist" letter from the Dixie Chicks by the time
school starts next fall, I will take this to mean that Dixie Chicks
management has softened their position on unauthorized redistribution of
their copyrighted work.

At that time, I will return the sound samples from the first three Dixie
Chicks CDs to my site.

September 7, 1999. The day after Labor Day. Mark your calendars.

For more info on the 1998 incident, check out my Cease And Desist page:
http://dixiechicks.mixedsignal.net/cease.html

I'll be posting my intentions on the front page of my site later this summer.


** Updates! **

I've greatly expanded the Timeline page with more information about each of
the timeline entries. It should be much easier now to find the information
you're looking for! Most new information will be linked to this page, and
I'll soon add a "Links" page for links to external sites that aren't
related to any particular time in the Dixie Chicks' history.

All-Inclusive Dixie Chicks Timeline
http://dixiechicks.mixedsignal.net/timeline.html

I've also updated the Discography section with more information about the
Dixie Chicks' latest chart successes, Martie's appearance on Deryl Dodd's
CD, and the progress of the Chicks' upcoming release, "Fly". They're not
going to call it "Sin Wagon" after all, but that song will be included on
the disc, scheduled to arrive in August.

The Full Dixie Chicks Discography
http://dixiechicks.mixedsignal.net/qkdisc.html

And coming soon: the Spring 1994 Chick Chat! A fan found a copy and sent
it to me, and I'll post it to the site as soon as I get it transcribed and
HTMLized. I'll also be making a new index page for the Chick Chat section
of the site.


** CountryNow.com Fan Site Awards **

Don't forget to visit CountryNow.com and check out the sites that are up
against "All-Inclusive" in the Amateur category of the Fan Site Awards!
The judges (including Dixie Chick kinda-look-a-likes SHeDAISY) will
announce their decision on June 10, 1999... wish me luck!

CountryNow.com 1999 Fansite Awards
http://www.countrynow.com/kean/cn_awards_finalists.htm


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--
Robert Brooks / robertb@...
http://dixiechicks.mixedsignal.net/ -- the complete history
Part of the world's largest computer: http://www.distributed.net/


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