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Monday, May 7, 2012

Dealing With Tempermental Musicians at the Temple

It would appear that some artists are more tempermental than others when it comes to allowing their work to be used or seen by the public.  This I can understand but we all must be reminded about the phrase, mimicry can be a form of compliment.  Not the case with the Gene Marlow Heritage Ensemble who I was invited to tape for posting on the internet by a local synagogue.  We briefly met before the concert at a local Leonia, NJ religious venue.  The leader of the band seemed very excited that we were going to record his concert for a charity fundraiser for the Temple.  Everything went smoothly and I made the assumption that there would be no reason to secure a release.  Mr. Marlow had given us permission to record and all seemed right on the mark.  I was to later learn after we completed the project and posted it on Vimeo after a long time of not getting a set list from the composer that we were ready to roll.  Mr. Marlow later changed his tune rather quickly demanding that the concert be pulled from the internet and that it didn't meet to his satisfaction.  They say the artist is always in the right when it comes to their own material even when their wrong.  Where are the days of free bootlegging privledges that THE GRATEFUL DEAD would offer it's listener in creating recordings of concerts allowing DEAD HEADS to sell and trade the tapes amoungst friends.   It all boils down to what is known as INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.  You must secure releases in advance so that a tempermental artist CAN'T change their minds or tune once they agree on a recorded message over the World Wide Web.  What is news?  What is entertainment?  Clearly this was a form of entertainment but as for the Gene Marlow Heritage Ensemble, this artist wonders if their is any ounce of honor in the verbal word that states you're doing the right thing and following through on what you say you
are going to do.  Be careful out there when you record events, especially musical ones.  A change in mind is a producers worst nightmare....and maybe even a mothers as well.  Stay well everyone...Peace and good cheer...Hardly professional, hard lessons learned.

James Ford Nussbaum
GALILEO PRODUCTIONS, LLC
Fairleigh Dickinson University

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