Aftermath

Hey everyone,

I decided to come back from my self-imposed hiatus. I was sort of on one since about Xmas until that infamous song called "The Rebel" came knocking at my door, but I really made no mention of it to anyone.

I want to clear up a few more things about The Rebel.

I took it down because it wasn't worth all the trouble. Both from people who didn't want me to post it, and the 2390483248 people asking me to send it to them. Am I scared of being sued? Not really. Technically, I could be sued by anyone for ANY of the material I have posted. I don't legally own any of it. No one, other than the band and their management, has legal rights over bootlegged/ROIO material. The only exception, at least in America, is if you go to a concert and tape the show yourself and freely trade it (not for profit). However, this activity is also not permitted by most venues or bands, but it happens anyway. Everything about non-official material is illegal in some way or another, either by how it was created or how it's used/exploited. Nevermind that 80% of the videos on YouTube are in violation of copyright. Let's not forget that. The reason it's not challenged more than it is, is because it's NOT THAT BIG A DEAL. Everyone still makes their money and drives their sports cars...it's ok.

Thin Lizzy's management hasn't come to me complaining about me posting Lynott's demo material, although they very well could. I don't own it, but it IS out there...so people might as well be hearing it for free (at least until someone gets around to remastering it and releasing it officially--HINT HINT), rather than being forced to pay for it on Ebay or something.

Sabbath has also said that they don't care about their live shows being taped. They know it happens, and they don't really care, as long as they aren't being sold for profit.

So what's the big deal about "The Rebel"? It's never been officially released and the band hates it so much that they don't plan on releasing it. It's out there now--it was out there before I ever found it--so what should be done? Personally, I'm starting to think I should of left it up, but I was sick of being bitched at by two people who claim they don't care what happens to me, yet take it upon themselves to badmouth me and tattle to anyone close to Black Sabbath. To be honest, Black Sabbath and their management probably don't give a shit. If they had, I probably would of heard something from them. I never did and probably never will.

I could post some of the hilarious PMs I received from the afforementioned gentlemen about my actions. They called me "combative" and "hostile", saying I had a "fuck you--I'll do what I want attitude" when the emails and PMs sent are as nice and polite as I could possibly make them. (This was the opposite of RL incident, where I actually was very combative, with good reason). I don't want to because it's a lot of correspondence I'd have to dig out and personally it's not that big a deal. If they think I was combative, then they don't have a fucking clue about what "combative" is. 'Combative' would of been me leaving the track up and telling them both to fuck off. Obviously, I didn't do that. I didn't even piss and moan about it. In hindsight, it was dumb to post the track, not because of it's legality (like I said, nothing I post is legal), but because of all the attention it was going to get...good and bad. Personally, I'd rather not have to answer 100 emails about 'The Rebel' daily. It's just a song.

The biggest irony of it all is that while the material that I post is illegally created and illegal to sell and sometimes own, is that it actually is allowed on YouTube. Well, again, it probably technically isn't, but I've seen people bitching lately about YouTube cracking down on people who continue to upload footage that has copyright issues. I've never been warned by YouTube, and I've had a total of TWO videos out of 307 be removed...and this was just recently. One was the song "Daddy Rolling Stone" with Lynott, Johnny Thunders, and Steve Mariott. The other was a fan-made mix that used a couple versions of Yellow Pearl. Nothing else has even been threatened with removal. My account is in good standing, and unless something suddenly changes, it should remain in good standing.

Well that's my thoughts. I posted my first video (Don't Let Him Slip Away - Thin Lizzy) a year from this coming Saturday (Feb 14), so look for some new stuff this week, to be capped off by a very special post Thursday night (Feb 12) to mark the event. I don't want to wait until the weekend, because most of my activity occurs doing the week, and V-Day is this Saturday, and I won't be around anyway. The post will be Lizzy/Lynott related, just as my first one was. And I'll even give you a lyric to see if anyone can figure it out ahead of time:

"You gotta fight...for your freedom...you gotta strike...while the feeling is strong...you gotta push on...for your loved ones...you gotta try...until the battle is won..."

Have a good week.

Blacksabfan