Sony issues Dylan outtakes to prevent copyrights from expiring in Europe: Well, at least they’re honest about it.
Fans had been trading magnetic tapes of already-released albums for years by this point, but Wonder was different: It was the first time that unheard recordings of a superstar’s new compositions had leaked to the public, and were being sold. It’s easy to take such a thing for granted today, when leaks circulate freely online, but Wonder represented the earliest moment when advancing technologies combined with popular demand and illicit entrepreneurship to create cracks in the record industry’s otherwise firm facade.Articles: Bob Dylan’s Great White Wonder: The Story of the World’s First Album Leak | Features | Pitchfork (via thisistheverge)
squashed says: With respect, that’s not a very good question. If you’re making things up (like Jonah Lehrer) and trying to pass them off as factually accurate, you’re violating all sorts of journalistic ethics. If, on the other hand, you’re concerned that Bob Dylan’s songs might not be very good journalism, you’re being silly.
Some professions have very stringent plagiarism standards. Academics, journalists, and students all have serious prohibitions on plagiarism for very good reason. The reasons simply don’t hold for artists. It’s worth asking whether Dylan violated copyright law—but plagiarism is simply the wrong lens.
» SFB says: It’s a perfectly interesting question to ask, considering Lehrer was nailed on an ethics issue related specifically to Bob Dylan’s words. Now, whether the broader question of plagiarism and ethics is worth asking, the fact of the matter is, the issues have more in common than they don’t. — Ernie @ SFB
Bob Dylan has angrily responded to charges he plagiarized some of his lyrics, calling critics “wussies and pussies” and saying musical appropriation is “part of the folk tradition.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine for its Friday edition, the influential singer-songwriter made his first public comments on the accusations, saying that in folk and jazz music “quotation is a rich and enriching tradition.”
“Everyone else can do it but not me,” he complained. “There are different rules for me.”
Another key line: “I’m working within my art form. It’s that simple. … It’s called songwriting. It has to do with melody and rhythm, and then after that, anything goes. You make everything yours. We all do it.” Our question: How does this make Jonah Lehrer feel?
When I asked about aspects of his interactions with Rosen, Lehrer provided a sketchy timeframe and contradictory specifics—he first told me that he had personally exchanged emails with Rosen, then attributed this supposed email exchange to his literary agent—then further claimed that Dylan’s management had approved the chapter after being sent a copy of Imagine. He added that Dylan’s management didn’t want their cooperation sourced in the book. But when I contacted Dylan’s management, they told me that they were unfamiliar with Lehrer, had never read his book, there was no bobdylan.com headquarters, and, to the best of their recollection, no one there had screened outtakes from No Direction Home for Lehrer. Confronted with this, Lehrer admitted that he had invented it.
Holy. Shit. (via popsins)
Jonah Lehrer has since resigned from the New Yorker and his publisher is halting shipments of print copies of Imagine. (via capitalnewyork)
In other words, a slow news day in the world of journalism scandal. This is actually round two for Lehrer. As it is, Dylan says so much interesting stuff already — why do you have to make it up, anyway? (Update: Joe Hanson has pasted a version of the article on Google Docs, because the site is down.)
Today saw 13 individuals receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in a ceremony at the White House’s East Room. The most prominent and popularly beloved of the slate is undoubtedly legendary singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, who turned 71 last week. The medal was explicitly intended for persons involved with diplomacy or national security until 1963, when President Kennedy broadened the award to include those who’ve made “an especially meritorious contribution to… cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
If September 11th, 2001 didn’t end in tragedy, people would probably remember it as a particularly stacked day for music fans. The early fall tends to bring many of the year’s big releases, and this fateful day in 2001 was no exception, with one bonafide classic (Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint”), two well-regarded critical hits (Bob Dylan’s “Love and Theft” and Ben Folds’ “Rockin’ The Suburbs”), two major commercial hits (Nickelback’s “Silver Side Up” and P.O.D.’s “Satellite,” the latter of which arguably benefited from a lede single that worked as a post-9/11 anthem), a memorable flop (Mariah Carey’s “Glitter”), a sleeper hit (The Moldy Peaches’ self-titled album) and two albums with foreshadowing titles (Slayer’s “God Hates Us All” and Biohazard’s “Uncivilization”). A ton of other albums were affected by 9/11, including Jimmy Eat World’s self-titled album (originally called “Bleed American”), The Strokes’ “Is This It” (which omitted “New York City Cops”) and Ryan Adams’ “Gold” (whose lead single had a video that prominently featured the Twin Towers). The music of an era should reflect its times. How do these albums hold up?
By comparing Common to Bono, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, he gains a huge upperhand. As far as this debate goes so far, It doesn’t have the zany back-and-forth energy of their prior meetings, but the debate is still pretty rad. That said, they’re not getting to the point where they’re at one another’s throats.
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
