Terry McBride and Nettwerk...Innovators or Internet Bullies?
Submitted by uberbelly on Fri, 2008-08-01 19:56.
Terry McBride and Nettwerk...Internet visionary or schoolyard Bully?
Yesterday I received an email from my friend David Gratton of Project Opus Technologies (also known as www.projectopus.com). It contained a cease and desist order from Nettwerks’ lawyers demanding two songs, Captive and Temptation, be immediately removed from my Project Opus web-page. Now these two songs were co-written and recorded 20 years ago with Sarah McLachlan and I had them uploaded and available for streaming from my Project Opus page. They were just part of my ‘archive’ of old songs that I wrote and played bass guitar on. Now, I co-wrote these two songs so you would think that I had/have the right to post these songs on my web-pages such as Opus and MySpace BUT think again!
Here is the said letter...
Via E-Mail
CEASE AND DESIST
August 1, 2008
Project Opus Technologies Ltd.
404, 329 Railway Street
Vancouver, BC
V6A 1A4
Dear Sirs,
Re: Sarah McLachlan master recordings entitled “Temptation” and “Captive”
We are legal counsel for The Nettwerk Music Group, including Nettwerk Productions (“Nettwerk”). The recording artist Sarah McLachlan is a party to an exclusive recording agreement with Nettwerk (the “Agreement”). Pursuant to that Agreement, Ms. McLachlan recorded two so-called “demonstration” recordings for Nettwerk entitled “Temptation” and “Captive” in approximately 1989 and 1990, respectively (the “Tracks”). It has come to our attention that the Tracks are currently being made available for streaming on the Project Opus website. It appears that the Tracks were posted on the site by a band calling itself “uberbelly”. Uberbelly is the working name of an individual named Jeff Sawatzky, a former member of Ms. McLachlan’s band.
Pursuant to the Agreement all master recordings recorded by Ms. McLachlan, including the Tracks are owned and/or controlled by Nettwerk. The unauthorized use and exploitation of this unlicensed material is a gross violation of Canadian, U.S. and international copyright law. We demand that you immediately cease and desist the streaming these Tracks on the Project Opus site and that these Tracks be immediately removed from www.projectopus.com.
If we do not receive communication from you by the end of the business day, Pacific Standard Time, Friday, August 1st, 2008, that you agree to comply with the demands set-out in this letter and that you have commenced complying with the demands of this letter, without further notice to you, we may proceed with the appropriate legal action to enforce our clients’ rights and to seek any and all remedies available to our client at law or equity, including but not limited to general, special and statutory damages for multiple counts of copyright violation.
We look forward to your response. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
ATKINS & COMPANY
Patrick Aldous
Now, Captive I could possibly see as being in violation as I do not ‘own’ the master recordings but I did co-write the song and performed on the recording. Ok, I’ll let that one go but Tempation is a bit of a different story. Again, I co-wrote and performed on the track but the most important thing is that the song was actually recorded at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Montreal...therefore the master tape actually belongs to the Canadian Public as the CBC is a Crown Corporation!!!! Nettwerk has no right that I can see to demand anything in regard to the use of this recording, only the CBC can tell me what to do with it!
Now the story gets even more ridiculous and convoluted. I have been in contact with a lovely woman named Claudia who runs a Sarah McLachlan fan-based web-site called Blackened Sky. I had offered her the two songs in question along with a bunch of other old Sarah demos and rarities that I have been dragging around for twenty years and just figured that somebody out there would love to hear these old songs. I was right and the fans just loved them. Claudia went ahead and posted the songs including the two songs in a Project Opus widget style player.
Well, what do you know? Nettwerk hits her and her site with another cease and desist order for the two songs. Here it is below...
Via E-Mail
CEASE AND DESIST
August 1, 2008
Blackened-Sky.net
Dear Madame:
Re: Sarah McLachlan master recordings entitled “Temptation” and “Captive”
We are legal counsel for The Nettwerk Music Group, including Nettwerk Productions (“Nettwerk”). The recording artist Sarah McLachlan is a party to an exclusive recording agreement with Nettwerk (the “Agreement”). Pursuant to that Agreement, Ms. McLachlan recorded two so-called “demonstration” recordings for Nettwerk entitled “Temptation” and “Captive” in approximately 1989 and 1990, respectively (the “Tracks”).
It has come to our attention that the Tracks are currently being made available for streaming on the MySpace site of a band calling itself “uberbelly” (http://www.myspace.com/uberbelly). Uberbelly is the working name of an individual named Jeff Sawatzky, a former member of Ms. McLachlan’s band. It has also come to our attention that the Tracks are currently being made available for free streaming on your website, blacked-sky.net and that your website is also offering a link to the uberbelly site on Myspace.
Pursuant to the Recording Agreement, the Tracks are owned and/or controlled by Nettwerk. The unauthorized use and exploitation of this unlicensed material is a gross violation of Canadian, U.S. and international copyright law. We demand that you immediately cease and desist referring making the Tracks available for streaming on your website and that you cease and desist referring users of your website to the internet link for the uberbelly Myspace site.
If we do not receive communication from you by the end of the business day, Pacific Standard Time, Friday, August 1st, 2008, that you agree to comply with the demands set-out in this letter and that you have commenced complying with the demands of this letter, without further notice to you, we may proceed with the appropriate legal action to enforce our clients’ rights and to seek any and all remedies available to our client at law or equity, including but not limited to general, special and statutory damages for multiple counts of copyright violation.
We look forward to your response. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
ATKINS & COMPANY
Patrick Aldous
Now to add insult to injury, if you had noticed that they had also demanded that Claudia remove a simple link to my Myspace page! Like they have any kind of right to do that! What the fuck Nettwerk?
After all that we hear on the Internet about just how “innovative” and “forward thinking” Nettwerk and Terry McBride is, this just smacks of Internet Bullying! Is this all you’ve got going for you Nettwerk? Harrassing people that helped put Sarah where she is today? (read $$$) The funny thing as well is that another song I co-wrote and performed on, Trust, was left alone. Why? Hmmm. And Claudia had a bunch of other old demos of Sarah available for streaming (she has since taken them down as well, don’t blame her) but they were never singled out. I find this all very strange and was just wondering what you all might think. And of course, Nettwerk never bothered to contact me in any way, just Project Opus and Blackend Sky. Silly bunch.
delicious | 
digg