New FTD: Blue Hawaii Sessions

[Nolan Truth]

Legally & morally, they belong to them don't they ?

No.

Well, if RCA/Sony or whoever paid for the original studio session, but the tapes have been illegally acquired by the bootlegger, surely legal ownership of the recordings remains with them ?

If not, aren't they in the public domain by now ?

The tapes were being skipped by Radio Recorders on a clean out, RCA were contacted but at that time showed no interest in wanting nor collecting them.
They were saved, not illegally required, by a certain individual and his family , and that is the start of the story of how this original tape got out there. Bootleggers over the years got copies.
Coming up to date, anything unreleased on those ‘61 sessions is now in the public domain.
Here is THE original tape in question that was sold at auction.

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/ ... ece4ffca7d

The consigner of this collection acquired this unique master tape directly from the Greenfield family. Jerome Greenfield was the General Manager of Radio Recorders at the time of the recording. After his death, in the process of clearing out his estate, his son found a number of unmarked boxes containing master reels from over 40 years ago.

The purchaser of this original Radio Recorders real is unknown.

[John]

Legally & morally, they belong to them don't they ?

No.

Well, if RCA/Sony or whoever paid for the original studio session, but the tapes have been illegally acquired by the bootlegger, surely legal ownership of the recordings remains with them ?

If not, aren't they in the public domain by now ?

You're assuming the bootlegger has them, which they well might, but the tape containing these takes possibly legally belong to a private individual. That throws a whole different slant on things.

[Colin B]

Legally & morally, they belong to them don't they ?

No.

Well, if RCA/Sony or whoever paid for the original studio session, but the tapes have been illegally acquired by the bootlegger, surely legal ownership of the recordings remains with them ?
If not, aren't they in the public domain by now ?

You're assuming the bootlegger has them, which they well might, but the tape containing these takes possibly legally belong to a private individual.
That throws a whole different slant on things.

How could a 'private individual' own the tapes ?

I might 'legally' buy a used car, but if it turns out to be stolen, legally, the original buyer still has ownership.

Some research shows that [in the US] there is protection for the original record company, but only on recordings made since 1972 !

And ownership & rights to Elvis' recordings is very complex, with different rules applying in the US & the UK...

[John]

Legally & morally, they belong to them don't they ?

No.

Well, if RCA/Sony or whoever paid for the original studio session, but the tapes have been illegally acquired by the bootlegger, surely legal ownership of the recordings remains with them ?
If not, aren't they in the public domain by now ?

You're assuming the bootlegger has them, which they well might, but the tape containing these takes possibly legally belong to a private individual.
That throws a whole different slant on things.

How could a 'private individual' own the tapes ?

They could have been given to him by someone from RCA.

I might 'legally' buy a used car, but if it turns out to be stolen, legally, the original buyer still has ownership.

Some research shows that [in the US] there is protection for the original record company, but only on recordings made since 1972 !

And ownership & rights to Elvis' recordings is very complex, with different rules applying in the US & the UK...

[Yin Yang]

Legal ownership is a minefield.
RCA-Victor owns the rights to Elvis' music.
But if they throw tapes into the dustbin, the tape(s) belong to the company that empties the dustbins.
If you then take the tape home, you steal it from the company that empties the dustbins.
I know Cees Klop of White Label Records and a collector friend while visiting the USA found test pressings and tapes unreleased containing Sun artists including Elvis. The "owner" sold them to Cees Klop, who then released "My baby's gone" single and an LP "Good rockin' tonight" with Sun outtakes by Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and others. This was a semi-legal release as the Copyright Company (BIEM/Stemra) was paid, but not the artists/musicians on the recordings.
A guy in Sint-Willebrord did the same with much wanted singles. He made a compilation album and paid for the rights but was only allowed to have a maximum of 1,000 LP's printed. When Copyright Control found out he had printed more than 1,000 LP's he got into legal trouble and had to stop releasing these "various artists" LP's. Needles to say he had no master tapes but simply took the sound off mint singles.
The 70's were fun for music fans!

[javilu]

Legal ownership is a minefield.
RCA-Victor owns the rights to Elvis' music.
But if they throw tapes into the dustbin, the tape(s) belong to the company that empties the dustbins.

Let's not confuse the ownership of a physical tape and the rights to release the recordings contained in those tapes.