Jason Robert Brown Battles Music Copyright Infringment

[Eris0303]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 12:53pm

I'm with JRB on this one. I know this has been a hot button issue of his wife's as well.

I was reading the back and forth between JRB and the one young woman who seems to have she has a right to have free access to his work. I hope she's not a poster here because she deserves to be slapped. Just because you can't afford something does not give you the right to steal it. I can't afford a Rolls Royce. Should I just go steal one?

Jason Robert Brown Battles Music Copyright Infringment

Updated On: 6/30/10 at 12:53 PM

[twinbelters]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 1:02pm

"Kiss of a Spider Woman"??

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 1:06pm

Oh, BWW (Not you, Eris, because I know you just copied it from the site), but copyrite? Really?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 1:06pm

Yet another example of the youth of America and their sense of entitlement.

I agree: let's find her and smack her.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 1:07pm

Sorry, what version of SPIDERWOMAN did Brown write? I wouldn't be surprised if it's just one of the many mistakes usually found on BWW reports (always filled with a shocking amount of factual errors) but someone tell me if there's an actual SPIDERWOMAN by Brown.

He's completely right about this and that girl is just well a young little girl who clearly doesn't know what she's talking about. His response was very gracious and it's nice he's taking a stance.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 1:07pm

Although comparing a Rolls Royce to a piece of music is problematic, I understand Brown's point of view.

Unfortunately, this is a situation that has been going on for ages and will never end. Performers will always find ways of obtaining sheet music/scores for free.

I admit that (as long as the performer makes no profit from the work they obtain) I object to this much less than to the ongoing problem of people re-selling copyrighted works on eBay and other websites.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 1:08pm

And then in the article they spell it copywright!

[Eris0303]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 1:13pm

Ug, I didn't even notice that. I will fix it. Fail, BWW! lol

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 1:32pm

Wow, they changed the errors and bad information and didn't delete this thread!

[tazber]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 1:34pm

They are depending on this thread to proofread for them.

[morosco]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 1:41pm

I hope she gets cooties from something she downloads illegally.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 2:04pm

It is possible for two things to be true at the same time:

1. JRB is totally right.

2. JRB is kind of a douchebag.

Actually, anyone familiar with The Last Five Years know that JRB knows he is kind of a douchebag.

[jpbran]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:14pm

Kinda weird for an artist to have to ARGUE with people who are openly stealing his/her work... Odd, entitled world we live in.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:17pm

You know a couple of years ago after making some, what I felt were, balanced comments on why I can't stand JRB's work I got a very petty email from the man himself. Now at the time I figured it was a zealous fan but after reading this I'm not so sure.






Of course maybe if he had a hit he wouldn't have to worry so much about his sheet music sales.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:18pm

Ask yourself, though - would you never xerox a piece of music for a friend? Would you never xerox a magazine article for a friend? That act and sending a copy via email are not essentially different.

You may answer "Of course I would never do that;" but, if so, I have never met you.

[walkedthroughmany]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:19pm

IBDB lists JRB as the Rehearsal Pianist for Spider Woman.

It's no excuse, but at least there's some connection.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:19pm

Love you, Carl Magnum. Keep it real.

[Q]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:24pm

I'll just say that the graciousness of his written reply does NOT match the behavior of the man to which I have been an unfortunate witness.

And his monotonous, droning, seemingly endless compositions give me a headache.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:30pm

JRB is many adjectives. But he is also right. And I hope he wins his battle.

(c) CapnHook 2010.

[rjm516]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:34pm

It doesn't matter who deserves what, who is a douche, who might not know the law, what might be better for certain members of society, anything. All that matters is the law. It is illegal, and thus JRB wins. It's like my favorite sign of ignorance - when people illegally post protected videos on youtube and say "no copyright infringement intended!" Hilarious yes, and so illegal.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:37pm

I'm totally with him on this except for the library thing. He's basically asking that people not steal his work while simultaneously advocating that they do. There's not much difference between going to the library, checking out the book, and copying the song pages and going on-line to the new age virtual library and requesting a song from a trader.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:42pm

Those were exactly my thoughts, regarding getting it from the library.

[Q]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:42pm

All his library suggestion sounded like to me was, "This is how we used to steal before the advent of better technology."

[chellie]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:44pm

Good for him. He's right. Not that I've never downloaded anything that might not technically be legal, but I certainly don't think I'm entitled to it (or that it's not "actually" stealing), nor do I do it on a regular basis. This girl's responses are downright delusional. But my favorite has to be this bit:

First of all, stop calling me "Brenna." I don't think I could possibly have made it clearer that I don't go by that name nor do I like that name. I go by "Eleanor."
Second, I'm not saying that you're not somewhat right in the way you're thinking, but you're also defiantly wrong.

[sondhead]

Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:46pm

newintown - this goes beyond that. We are not talking about photocopying just sometimes or when the music is otherwise unavailable. As a pianist to many musical theatre performers.. students... professionals.. across the gamut, I almost solely see printed-out-from-PDF music these days. It's annoying on the one hand because a lot of those scans are very poor quality and impossible to read, but also because often it is songs like "Younger Than Springtime," or whatnot.. for which there is NO excuse for not owning a legitimate copy. And yes, I know most people would make a photocopy of their legitimate copy for their audition book, but believe me, you can tell when its a PDF.