Some info about Rainy Day Records
Martin J. Slover
I haven't seen this covered in the newsgroup as of yet but Rainy Day
Records will no longer be dealing in "import" (read bootlegs) Indigo
Girls material. The following bits of email and articles have been
forwarded on to me and I thought I would post them up for all here to
see.
Max...
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Date: Sun, 27 Apr 1997 11:24:14 -0400
From: Perry Thompson <ra...@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: OFFICIAL RDR STATEMENT
Hello fellow Indigo Girls fans!
Rainy Day Records will no longer carry IG collectible pieces, including
vinyl, rare CDS, posters, buttons, photos, promo items, autographed pieces,
bootlegs, unauthorized imports or any items not approved by Sony/Epic. We
will continue to sell all the Indigo Girls Epic releases at competitive
prices. We will continue to sell all the approved compilations on which
the Indigo Girls appear. We will also continue to stock Daemon product
though in smaller quantities.
We will continue our strong promotion of Atlanta/Athens music, indie
releases and those hard-to-find national acts. Look to us for the unusual,
the outrageous and the fun!
Thanks for your support all these years! We love you and hope you'll
continue to do business with us.
Peace,
Marsha
Jeff
perry
& vanessa too!
___________________________________________________
Rainy Day Records ra...@rainy.com
Marsha, Vanessa, 1-800-636-6166
Jeff & Perry http://www.rainy.com
* WE SHIP WORLD WIDE * * BATTLE ON, XENA! *
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Date: Sun, 27 Apr 1997 12:47:18 -0400
From: Perry Thompson <ra...@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: Amendment to RDR Statement
Hello again fellow IG fans!
Because of the overwhelming and immediate response to our last post, I want
to make this further clarification:
Our decision to no longer carry controversial IG material was in no way
forced by CBS/Sony/Epic or any other major label. No one from any major
label has put pressure on us to stop sales of these items. The decision
was based solely on a phone call from Russell Carter who was speaking on
behalf of Amy Ray. You draw your own conclusions from there.
Bottom line is RDR is OUT of the IG loop except for the official Epic
releases which we'll continue to sell until told otherwise.
Peace,
perry
___________________________________________________
Rainy Day Records ra...@rainy.com
Marsha, Vanessa, 1-800-636-6166
Jeff & Perry http://www.rainy.com
* WE SHIP WORLD WIDE * * BATTLE ON, XENA! *
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Bit of an Interview with AR about why she pulled the bootlegs from RDR...
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 13:38:09 -0400
From: Susan and Jocelyn <ted...@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: 100% IGC: RDR/boots
Hello All,
Thanks for the Stomp and Stammer tip, whoever posted that, that this
incredible Amy interview is in this month's issue. We would have gotten
it anyway, but we went right away this time :-)
For those of you following the RDR saga, please note, we too, were very
interested in finding out what happened, because we've spent a great deal of
time and money there. We bought both Early Recordings CDs there (as well as
every CD we've bought in the last few months, and that's a lot!) Although it
felt a little hinky to buy illegally manufactured CDs, we bought them because
someone posted to the list, saying that they were speaking on Perry's behalf,
and said that A+E were aware of/approved of the project. So here, from the May
issue of Stomp and Stammer, is Amy's discussion of the issue. This is NOT the
entire interview, just a piece of it, dealing with this topic, and reprinted
without permission, because we can!
". . . First topic of discussion: her reaction to finding bootlegs of some
early, EARLY Indigo Girls recordings in an independent Atlanta record store
which has been very supportive of the duo over the years.
AR: "There is some stuff going on right now that I have a problem with. I'm
not gonna name any stores, but when people take recordings that have already
been done, and they bootleg them, and they reissue them, and make money
off them, that pisses me off. Like, I saw a bootleg of our EP! They
don't own the license for that! Epic owns the license for that, and they
own it for a reason, because we wanted them to release it as B-sides, and
then maybe later on down the road as part of a box set. It's like, if I
wanted the thing released, we would release it! You don't take something
and steal it from somebody like that, and make a lot of money off it.
And it's wrong. It's wrong, period. There's no question to me about it."
Jeff Clark of Stomp and Stammer: "On the other hand, as a fan of other
musicians, I'm sure you understand that desire to 'have everything' "
AR: "People bootleg our shows all the time. I have no problem with that. We
expect it to happen, and it's not an issue for me . . . [But] you know, I've
seen some bootlegs recently in Atlanta that are reissues of tapes I made
when I was in high school and college, of me and Emily, that I made and gave
to people as gifts. And I consider those my property. I consider them to be
things that I created myself, that are not for people to sell. And when I
see someone doing that, a store, you know, I'll withdraw my support for
them. Because it's wrong. Especially if they don't ask me."
End of quoted matter.
So there you have it, the quotes should stand on their own. On the one hand,
we have someone saying that they knew about it and it was okay (albeit
third-party) and then on the other hand, we have Amy herself addressing the
issue of boots (concerts okay! yay!) so draw your own conclusions. I know we
sure have.
Peace,
Susan
&
Jocie
Miah
I think there is no doubt that it is somewhat about money. Amy is
correct when she says that all of the music that RDR is _selling_ is
legally her/Sony's property. Knowing her stance on the furious boot
trading enterprise that surround IG shows, she obviously doesn't mind
that the music is out there. If I were in her shoes, I would look at
RDR's actions as simply a matter of no respect. It doesn't matter _how_
involved RDR is in the scene, they show her no personal or professional
respect by profiting off of her material illegally. If RDR was so
concerened about the Atlanta underground scene, maybe they wouldthink
twice before taking money out of the pockets of it's biggest success.
Bravo Amy. Claim what is yours and demand that people show you the
respect you have earned.
Miah
John Carle
Hi folks,
I heard about the Stomp and Stammer interview, but hadn't read
anything from it until now. What gets me is this - although as a
creative writer I understand the desire to control your material, I
just can't believe that this isn't about money. Perry and Marsha are
good friends of mine, and I know how they struggle with RDR. The
store has been *instrumental* in the continuing vitality of the local
acoustic scene. How much money do you have to make before you quit
worrying about the activities of those who support you and the scene
you helped create?
John Carle, considering not purchasing the new CD.
John Carle
ind...@crl.com (Martin J. Slover) wrote:
I think Perry and Marsha showed a lot of
>respect by doing what was asked.
Indeed. Given my understanding that Amy didn't talk to P&M directly,
even though she was in the store long enough to get pissed off about
the merchandise, but instead went crying to the press about her
dissatisfaction, they were going well beyond respect.
Had it not been for the Indigo Girls I
>am pretty sure that the store would not have the popularity amongest fans
>that they do.
Agreed, since the IGs success invigorated the scene on which RDR
focuses. Turn it around, now: the artists released on Daemon would
likely not have had quite the distribution they have (I'm thinking of
Danielle Howle, among others) without the constant work Rainy Day puts
into pushing these acts.
To Miah: I'll concede to Amy Ray (swell fellow that I am :) the right
to make money off her talents and labors, but doesn't it seem like a
really cheap shot, after you've split a bunch of that (not
insubstantial, I'm assuming) money with a major label anyway, to crap
all over a small record store because they're staying afloat selling
what sells, besides mailing your *approved* stuff to the four corners
of the globe? Maybe we could just ban record stores (and book stores,
and most anything in a mall) as needless middlemen and let Amy and
Emily sell it themselves. And let's skip the impending diatribes
about needing to go to the labels, or we'll end up talking about Ani
D, which would be fine with me but in another NG.
All the best,
John
K Kovach
Max, as usual you are right on! The whole ordeal has just saddened me,
RDR was always a high point on my MANY trips to Atlanta...it just won't
be the same!
kym
Tenacious Taurean
>I heard about the Stomp and Stammer interview, but hadn't read
>anything from it until now. What gets me is this - although as a
>creative writer I understand the desire to control your material, I
>just can't believe that this isn't about money. Perry and Marsha are
>good friends of mine, and I know how they struggle with RDR.
What was the "Stomp and Stammer" interview about?
What did Amy Ray say about bootlegs???
TT
BonneMot
Hi everyone
On the issue of selling the type of material RDR sells, I'm pretty bummed
I didn't get the chance to buy some of it. Bottom line to me is that the
girls would be hugely successful with or without the "illegal mdse" , and
hate to see them make such an issue of something relatively
inconsequential. I mean, we're not talking about a million dollar a year
business are we? I really don't know, but it seems they could work out a
way to somehow enable RDR to continue selling the mdse and perhaps give
Amy a small share of the profit. sounds so easy doesn't it folks? Also,
maybe AMy isn't thinking with her best head right now - maybe she'll
reconsider.
I have to say that I do believe in an artist's right to control the
distribution of their own work, but it seems to me like a little of that
"let's just all love each other and get along"sentiment you hear in some
of the songs might go a long way in this situation! I think artists
should promote what gets the music to the people, because all of our love
of music is partly why we're fans in the first place.
Bonnie
Indigo Vic
>Bottom line to me is that the girls would be hugely successful with or
without the "illegal mdse" , and hate to see them make such an issue of
something relatively inconsequential.<
Protection of copyrighted material is not just about money.
If I own a specific intellectual property, and you produce an
"inconsequential" product that infringes on my rights as the
(copyright/patent/trademark) owner, I have little choice but to protect my
rights. If I chose to ignore your product, and then found a more
"consequential" infringing product created by a third party, I might find
that my failure to prosecute you could have a negative effect on any legal
proceedings I might make regarding the third party. In short, they could
argue that since I was aware of an earlier violation of my ownership
rights, and I did not attempt to protect myself, then I had chosen to
weaken my ownership of the intellectual property. And if the third party
is able to demonstrate a repetitive pattern of failure to enforce my
rights, I may find the going really difficult.
As far as this specific situation goes, Amy mentioned that one of the key
products here was the issue of the 1986 EP, which Epic owns the rights to.
If Indigo Girls became aware of a commercial product that violated Epic's
ownership rights, and they supported that product (even through inaction),
that might even be a breach of their contract with Epic. Who knows?
-Vic.
.
jeffc
Hey John Carle,
Jeff Clark here. How ya doin'? I never look at these newsgroups, so I
hope I send this thing correctly. Anyway, I heard our little interview
in S&S was causing quite a commotion here. Well, just to clear one
thing up: No matter what side of the bootleg issue you're on, Amy
didn't go "crying to the press" about her problem with the boots. I
asked her directly about it, and she answered honestly. That's it.
Anyway, I'm going to bed, and I advise everyone else to do the same.
Vonnie IGS
In article <5l20il$1j...@newssvr01-int.news.prodigy.com>,
UVG...@prodigy.com (K Kovach) writes:
I know I'm a few days late here but I have to agree it saddened as well
that they won't be selling the spcial things on IGs. I will still try to
support them but part of the support I personally gave was because of the
Indigo Girls.
It also saddends me that Amy had to go through Russel Carter to have them
stop selling their non epic item etc. My only question in doing this is
who is disrepecting who. I hate to think that Amy didn't have the respect
to go to Perry herself & ask him not to sell any of the non Epic items. As
Max & others have said she has played there on the New Year events.
I won't go as far as someone said about not buying their album since I
already have but it does make me wonder if she has forgotten where she
started at.
Flame me if you must but I am only giving my only .02 & I have a lot of
respect for Amy, Emily,Indigo Girls,their music but I needed to say what I
have. Indigo Girls Rule & alway will. I Watched them in Awe the very first
time they played in New York & never lost faith in their music or them.
Vonnie
Vonnie love those Passions