BBC Proms New Commissions

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    BBC Proms New Commissions

    Hmm Being unable to contact ferney by PM I shall have to go public.

    It’s about a new music Youtube channel hosted by an Esteemed Fellow Forumite. The channel contains – or used to – all the BBC Proms new commissions for the last few years. You might remember 5against4 visited for3 during the Proms last year to draw out attention to his work. He also runs an accompanying website. During the Proms season he included an audience appreciation poll where listeners could express their reactions to the pieces. Remember that? Quite useful. I checked out the channel and was enjoying re-hearing all the pieces – until, that is, it disappeared

    In a recent blog on his website 5against4 mentions that he’d been approached by the BBC’s IP Litigation department and threatened with legal action if he didn’t pull the Youtube Channel. They can find the money for legal fees at a time like this, then?

    There are evidently issues about copyright at stake here too complicated for a mere mortal to grasp, and I concluded that Aunty’s spies must be everywhere these days. The incident raises questions about the legal implications of downloading, owning and sharing public broadcasts, I assumed. I didn't think twice about the YT Channel. There are lots of reasons why it was a good thing. Having all the commissions in one place made them far more accessible than trawling through the BBC’s own labyrinthine website. They’ve all disappeared from that, too, now. Hardly surprising the pieces rarely get a second airing, then, isn’t it. Another reason might be that it would undoubtedly be helpful for composers interesting in accepting commissions for the Proms to be able to hear what’s been performed in previous years. Furthermore, maybe students of composition would just like a little longer to listen to new pieces. You can probably see some more reasons of your own.

    So the moral of the story is: 'Walls have ears'
    And the tune ends too soon for us all

    #2
    This is a shame. My area of academic research is the music commissioned for the Proms, and 5against4 was very useful resource. What is particularly galling is that the BBC makes it impossible for academic researchers to access their recorded archive, let alone music-loving members of the general public. Then British Library has good holdings, and these are available to members. I can't see how making these recordings available is damaging to anybody: it doesn't deprive the composers of revenue, nor the publishers - if anything, it makes further commissions more likely if potential commissioners can easily hear music by composers in whom they have an interest. If the BBC made these recordings available commercially (along the lines of NMC) this would be a different matter. The recording itself has already been paid for by licence fee payers, and as I understand it, the performers would have signed away all rights in the recording in perpetuity (I may not understand this fully, so am happy to be corrected). This is the BBC in characteristic dog-in-manger activity. The likelihood of the BBC bringing a case against 5against4 on this issue is, I would guess, vanishingly small, but the threat of action by a huge, wealthy and powerful organisation like the BBC would be pretty scary.

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      #3
      Originally posted by Constantbee View Post
      So the moral of the story is: 'Walls have ears'
      And another is, if you see a resource you think you might want to keep or refer to again, download it - before anyone tells you you can't and it's illegal.

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        #4
        I only dip in and out of this forum nowadays but was concerned to see that ferney seems not to be posting. Is he well?

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          #5
          Originally posted by Orphical View Post
          I only dip in and out of this forum nowadays but was concerned to see that ferney seems not to be posting. Is he well?
          Take a look at the Absent Friends & Missing Persons thread: he's decided to concentrate his efforts elsewhere.

          Comment


            #6
            Can i make an extremely belated reply to this thread, which i've only just noticed?

            Just a clarification really, about the litigious "threat" from the Beeb regarding my activities (mentioned by OP); their objection was to my making downloads available of the off-air recordings, which they politely asked me to stop. i did, and switched to YouTube instead (using unlisted videos, just in case), and there has been no problem since. i really hope that continues to be the case.
            5against4.com
            @5against4

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