Fw: Does John Cage have a copyright on recorded silence?

["d. daniell" <m@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "nettime's deaf reader" <nettime@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <nettime-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, July 01, 2002 12:19 PM
Subject: <nettime> Does John Cage have a copyright on recorded silence?


>
> Big noises at odds over the sound of silence
>
> By David Lister
> Media and Culture Editor
> http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=307449
>
> 21 June 2002
>
> 'The Sound of Silence' may have prompted engaging harmonies from Simon and
> Garfunkel - but a more literal appreciation of the absence of noise has
> prompted one of the more curious copyright disputes of modern times.
>
> Mike Batt, the man behind the Wombles and Vanessa Mae, has put a silent
> 60-second track on the album of his latest classical chart-topping
> protégés, the Planets. This has enraged representatives of the
> avant-garde, experimentalist composer John Cage, who died in 1992. The
> silence on his group's album clearly sounds uncannily like 4'33", the
> silence composed by Cage in his prime.
>
> Batt said last night: "I've received a letter on behalf of John Cage's
> music publishers. I was in hysterics when I read their letter.
>
> "As my mother said when I told her, 'which part of the silence are they
> claiming you nicked?'. They say they are claiming copyright on a piece of
> mine called 'One Minute's Silence' on the Planets' album, which I credit
> Batt/Cage just for a laugh. But my silence is original silence, not a
> quotation from his silence."
>
>
>
>
>
> #  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
> #  <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
> #  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
> #  more info: majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
> #  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>