Commodore Remix

***IMPORTANT OUTREACH MESSAGE***

If you are a Remixer or SID musician who has had their work included in a Project with Chris Abbott since about 1990; and you have suddenly received an 'out of the blue' payment from Chris or his company, High Technology Publishing Ltd then contact me here or on facebook messenger or email me via the link here.

This post may seem a little mysterious but any payment from Chris or his company may carry with it, consequences which are not 100% obvious with regard to the Intellectual Property rights & copyright of your work. If you contact me, I will be happy to paint the 'big picture' for you.

Any musicians who are already included in our group can ignore this message.

"A little mysterious" is somewhat of an understatement. This sounds like something that could have implications for more people than just any directly involved artists. Also, the wording "our group" sounds like you're trying recruit people for some sort of underground army. Might I remind you that this is the friendly world of C64 remixing, not Harry Potter.

If you're so happy to paint the 'big picture', maybe you'd like to do so in public instead?

Peter,

All this cloak and dagger was/is completely unnecessary.

I am happy to state here that I don't want copyright ownership of any of the Remix64 tracks: I uploaded them to digital distribution originally because people were asking for them. They were withdrawn from digital distribution when I cancelled my contract with Sound of Games, and didn't re-upload them.

BTW, the copyrights were not "sold" in 2014 to Sound of Games - they merely took over the registration of the pieces with another provider on a sub-label basis. I even took the time to explain why in 2014 I was doing this on this very board - basically, I wanted out of the scene, and wanted someone to look after the remixers for me. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10485

The payments to the remixers recently were for 100% of the streaming revenues I received, without deduction: each track was generating less than $5 a year, so these things flew under the radar a bit for a while. I was glad to have the opportunity to do something about it, and it made a nice Christmas present which was - I have to publicly state - without obligation or IP transfer.

I am sorry for any inconvenience caused in filling in the copyright field with "High Technology Publishing Ltd.": at the time that was more to be consistent with the overall copyright of the physical CDs which I had paid for and pressed with the permission of all involved* - and then that was replicated by Sound of Games (except that some tracks are now registered to them, which is annoying, I agree - a bit of a mess really), but I really didn't mean it as a land-grab of people's ongoing IP rights, and I don't think anyone apart from you took it that way either. I'm not sure that you can edit this copyright data on the services at all, let alone once a track is withdrawn.

So, no, to reiterate, those payments weren't me sneakily trying to acquire rights on the cheap. They were simple good-faith payments I realised I'd neglected. People's tracks are their own, and except for one or two by actual agreement (with Markus Holler) are now not on streaming at all.

If any remixers or SID musicians have an issue with me that concerns them, I'm always happy to have a rational and helpful discussion about it privately, and share whatever data is applicable.

Chris

* Remix64: Into Eternity was a different case because there was no record label left to handle it after Neil left so I stepped in.

Jan Lund Thomsen wrote: ↑<span class="hotdate" style="color:#888;">13/12/2020 - 15:31</span> "A little mysterious" is somewhat of an understatement. This sounds like something that could have implications for more people than just any directly involved artists. Also, the wording "our group" sounds like you're trying recruit people for some sort of underground army. Might I remind you that this is the friendly world of C64 remixing, not Harry Potter.

If you're so happy to paint the 'big picture', maybe you'd like to do so in public instead?

Jan, the post was deliberately written in the way that it was, to avoid getting into the stuff that Chris has now decided to publicly excuse himself for, above. The post is fairly clear as to who may be affected and applies to the people described, only. A "Remixer or SID musician who has had their work included in a Project with Chris Abbott since about 1990; and you have suddenly received an 'out of the blue' payment from Chris or his company". No wider implications are suggested anywhere in that.

The reference to 'our group' is in no way, any sort of recruitment attempt. There are a number of musicians talking to me who are affected by the issues that I wasn't prepared to state publicly and I still won't. (I have already emailed Chris Abbott about this, privately). I am simply saying to them, "If you've already spoken to me, there's no need to communicate here!".

I would advise Chris to revert to communicating privately about this if he has the best interests of our community at heart; and he clearly understands how potentially negative this could be.

The intention of my initial post is clear and unequivocal. I am reaching out to any other musicians who have potentially been affected by a specific issue.. I included just enough information for someone to identify if they may be affected. I did not include anything more than was necessary to achieve that. I have no interest in a public trial over this.. and with all due respect, this forum is really not the place...

Chris...
There's a lot to unpack in your post, above and even more that requires explanation. My email to you was clear about what was expected and it was reasonable & measured, given the circumstances. Please communicate with me privately via facebook or email with regard to your intentions and take this discussion out of this forum.

this forum is really not the place...

it's a bit late for that.

Matters are being cleared up, locking the topic for the time being.