Copyright Talk

Many publishers and record labels discourage unsolicited submissions. They say they won’t take them, won’t consider them, and will hate you if you send them. In real life, companies can refuse to listen to them, look at them, or read them, but they can’t stop them from coming, no matter how often and how loud they say “Don’t send unsolicited submissions!”

So I was amused when I discovered the following on the “Terms of Use” page of indie record label New West:
“SUBMISSIONS
New West Records does not accept unsolicited material. By uploading any material, in any form (text, photograph, music, etc.) and in any manner (bulletin board, email or otherwise), you (i) grant to New West Records the non-exclusive, worldwide right to use, post, publish and display your material on the web site, without royalty or compensation of any kind, (ii) expressly waive any and all rights of privacy, moral rights or rights of attribution and integrity, in and with respect to the material, (iii) attest that duplication and distribution of the material will not violate any right of or require any compensation to any person or entity, (iv) avow that you are the copyright owner of the materials comprising the submission or have all rights necessary to authorize its unfettered use and distribution and (v) confirm that you are eighteen years of age or older. You understand that, once your material is posted, anyone can download and/or distribute that material. You expressly waive any and all claims you may have against New West Records and release New West Records and its officers of any liability herewith.”

My first thought was, “Would this language actually insulate New West from a copyright infringement claim if they posted and allowed downloads of an unsolicited submission?”

But before I got through analyzing the legal issue, another thought occurred to me. Might this threat actually encourage submissions from unknown bands? After all, with so many musicians hungry for exposure to a potential audience, and perfectly willing to give away music in exchange for exposure (see my earlier post on Samantha Murphy), if a band believes that New West would actually post their music as a “punishment,” but it’s on the website of a label with the likes of Dwight Yoakum, Steve Earle, and Kris Kristofferson, wouldn’t a lot of bands consider that a good thing?

I didn’t have to analyze that question for long - the answer is yes. If anyone is naive enough to think that New West will actually put their stuff up for download alongside their well-known national musical acts, then they are absolutely going to send it along, in spite of the warnings to the contrary.

Oh, if only it were that easy to get your music noticed.