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» » The Red and Black • Tuesday, Octobsr 16,1990
A&E
Consumers, record industry at odds
BEST BET
As part of the Homecoming festivities, the University Union and
Chameleon Productions will be presenting "Out of the Dark
ness," a free multimedia rock and roll laser show tonight at the
Coliseum. The show begins at 8 p.m.
By NOEL MURRAY
Entertainment Writer
Doe* the government have the
right to set a royalty tax of 60 cents
to a dollar on every blank tape pur
chased, so as to curtail audio pi
racy? Do they have the right to
forbid the sale of digital audio tape
(DAT) recorders or modify those re
corders so as to make home piracy
impossible?
These are some questions ad
dressed by the Home Recording
Rights Coalition (HRRC), a con
sumer lobby that for nine years has
been working to protect the Amer
ican consumer’s right to tape for
personal use.
Blank Tapes
Sav, for example, that the latest
double album by Prince has just hit
the racks, but you don’t have the 12
bucks Warner Brothers records de
mands for a copy. What do you do?
Most college students, with their
limited income, reach for that 90-
minute blank TDK and dupe the
record from a friend.
When that happens, it means a
loss of income to Warner Brothers,
Prince and whatever record store
from which you would ordinarily
have bought the record. How much
income?
"Negligible,” said Suzanne
Jackson, legislative assistant for
HRRC. "Most consumers are re
sponsible home tapers. The
amount of money lost due to people
making personal copies of someone
else’s record or CD does not even
dent the billions of dollars the re
cording industry makes each year."
Yet the record industry has a
iwerful congressional lobbying
r
for
force that is pushing for a royalty
tax of roughly one cent a minute for
blank audio cassetes. In other
words, the 90-minute TDK on
which you recorded the new Prince
album would cost about a dollar
more.
“It's not exactly fair,” said
Jackson. “Only one-fourth of all
home taping is duplicating pre-re
corded music. Of that one-fourth,
about half consists of people re
cording their own records and CDs,
for use in a Walkman or whatever."
That means that if eight people
buy a blank audio cassette under
the proposed royalty bill, the music
Press information from
the Copyright Coalition
states, “The interests
of American music
creators and copyright
owners would be
seriously jeopardized
by this legislation.”
industry makes eight extra dollars,
even though only one of those ta
pers is conceivably going to pirate a
prerecorded work.
DAT
The real battle in the home
taping field, however, is over DAT.
DAT stands for digital audio tape,
a new technology that permits the
home taper to make perfect, noise-
free digital copies of original source
material. It is in the battle over
DAT that the HRRC meets its chief
opposition, the Copyright Coali
tion.
The Copyright Coalition consists
of members of The Songwriters
Guild of America (SGA), the Na
tional Music Publishers Associa
tion (NMPA) and the American
Society of Composers, Authors and
Publishers (ASCAP). They oppose
the DAT bill, a piece of legislation
which legalizes unlimited copying
of music by DAT recorders.
Press information from the
Copyright Coalition states, “The
interests of American music cre
ators and copyright owners would
be seriously jeopardized by this
legislation.”
“The DAT recorder exists to
make perfect copies of prerecorded
material,” says Mary McNary,
public affairs coordinator for
ASCAP. ‘They want to make off
scott-free with other people’s crea
tive property.”
The Copyright Coalition solution
is twofold. They suggest first the
addition of a special frequency
notch in the audio signal of a copy
righted recording, to prevent its
being copied. If that is not ap
proved, they propose a tax on DAT
machines similar to the one pro
posed on blank tapes, with the
extra revenue going to the music
industry. ,
Public Sentiment
As expected, the American
public is not really interested in
the complaints of the music in
dustry. According to a government
survey, 79% of Americans oppose a
tax on recorders and 81% oppose a
tax on blank cassettes. The ques
tion is, does the U.S. government
have a responsibility to foster new
technology and reflect public senti-
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The prohibition or
limitation of new
technology seems to
contradict the free-
market naturo of
American capitalism.
Should the government
reflect public
sentiment or protect
American songwriters?
ment, or to protect the American
songwriter?
“Without the mueic of America’s
creators, there would be no reason
for records, cassette tapes, compact
discs or DAT recorders," states an
executive summary by the Copy
right Coalition. “The creators of
that music must be a party to any
agreement reached with regard to
the use of their work.”
Possible Solutions
The role of the record company
itself in compensating the artists is
lost in the arguments over creative
property. The need for this consid
eration is urged by the fact that
more and more Japanese corpora
tions, who own the home recording
technology, also own the American
record companies.
No matter where an American
spends his money, the corporations
will get their cut. An option could
be for the multibillion dollar music
industry to increase royalty pay
ments to artists and let their cor
porate owners absorb the loss.
The fact is that home taping is
now a way of life for many Ameri
cans, be it piracy or recording a lec
ture. The prohibition or limitation
of new technology seems to contra
dict the free-market nature of
American capitalism.
Whether the consumer agrees
with this statement or not, lines
are being drawn that will affect the
amount of money he spends. The
DAT bill has been tabled for this
session of Congress, but within the
year, it will come up again.
Warhol’s pop art full
of social commentary
By MATTHEW LOVING
Contributing Writer
What do Marilyn Monroe and
Albert Einstein have in common?
More than likely not much except
that they have been forever im
mortalized bv the famed pop
artist, Andy Warhol.
Their altered images are cur
rently on display at the High Mu
seum of Art in Atlanta until Jan.
6.
The High Museum has been
bringing in quality exhibits for
the citizens of Atlanta for quite
sometime. Peachtree Street’s
eye-catching white building is, in
itself, a masterpiece that com
mands attention.
For those who don’t get excited
by Renaissance art or don’t really
appreciate a Realist’s lack of cre
ativity, the High Museum may
offer the alternative cultural ex
perience you’ve been seeking.
Although Warhol’s art has
been called fraudulent and de
scribed by some as mere photo
graphs with a bit of paint tnrown
on them, they’re really much
more.
His art expresses an age of
commercialism gone mad — capi
talist art epitomized.
Warhol is often condemned as
being the first artist-turned-busi-
nessman. The most naive of indi
viduals can figure out that he
was far from being the first artist
to get paid very well for his en
deavors.
It’s quite certain Michelangelo
received a handsome sum for his
Sistine Chapel gig.
Can it be said that Warhol is
the Michelangelo of the 20th
Century? Perhaps not, but he is,
at least in the American perspec
tive, the most famed contempo
rary artist to date.
Fame is the basis of “Andy
Warhol’s Celebrities.” The “Ce
lebrities” exhibit is touring not
only to showcase 53 of the artist’s
prints, but also to spotlight a
highly elusive man who chose to
portray himself as the “Shadow."
A testament to Warhol’s infat
uation with famous people, the
exhibit is loaded with familiar
faces.
The collection, “Jews of the
20th Century,” includes rep
resentations of Sarah Bernhardt,
the Marx Brothers and Franz
Kafka, to name a few.
The collection of prints entitled
“Myths," and another called
“Cowboys and Indians,” pay
tribute to several famed Ameri
cans, ranging from Elvis Presley
to Mickey Mouse.
Epitaphs printed on the wall
give a detailed history of a man
and his art.
The pieces chronicle Warhol’s
career, from the tiny office where
he started as a graphic designer,
all the wav to his tinseltown
studio which was aptly named
‘The Factory."
The epitaphs bring Warhol’s
life into focus and make it ob
vious why Warhol was so ob
sessed with commercialism and
why he considered fame to be one
of life’s ultimate achievements.
The museum will be pre
senting four Warhol films during
the exhibit’s visit. “Kiss” and
“Beauty II* will be shown Nov.
16.
“Lonesome Cowboys" will play
Nov. 17 while “Chelsea Girls’*can
be seen Nov.30.
All the films begin at 8 p.m. in
the Rich Auditorium of the Wood
ruff Arts Center.
For students not familiar with
the Atlanta area and its ac
claimed art museum, the exhibit
is a good excuse for a road trip.
The High Museum has many
floors of international and local
art that are on continuous dis
play, as well as other permanent
exhibits.
“Andy Warhol’s Celebrities” is
pop art for a pop culture.
The High Museum is open Tues.-
Sat., 10 a.nu-5 p.m. and until 9
p.m. every Wed. Hours on Sun.
are noon-5 p.m. General admis
sion is $2 with a student I.D. and
$4 for non-students.
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Wednesday - Ladies Nite -7p.m.-close
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ACADEMIC SUCCESS SERIES
Tuesday, October 16 3:30-5:00 p.m. 119 Clark Howell Lobby Area
Find out why you postpone unpleasant tasks.
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Show starts 8 p.m. at the Coliseum
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