I found this guy Stan Stapleton giving away James Muller's music for free on the internet . He plays guitar in a Santana tribute band in St Louis ( true !! )
I find it profoundly depressing that the guy is a musician and not a teenager who doesn't know the difference between right or wrong . I thought if I wrote a song about him it might publicly shame the guy ( since the governments and court's have failed to protect our rights as composers/musicians ) . Unfortunately it has backfired . I emailed him this song and he loves it ...he can't wait to become "famous" .
"Stan Stapleton plays guitar in a Santana tribute band
I love James Muller's playing I am giving away for free on my blog
without his permission
Stan Stapleton from St Louis "
Here's the song
Here's our email exchange . As far as I am concerned , if James wanted to give his music away for free he would . This guy has NO RIGHT to hand it out .
On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 8:57 AM, stan stapleton wrote:
Hello Sean.
First i must comment you on what a great player you are, your music really awesome.
It seems no one has heard of the fantastic James Muller, that guy's one of best i've heard, truly amazing. I wanted to share this with the masses, i hope it helps get the word out about you guys.
I play lead guitar in a Santana Tribute Band, which is not even close to the music magic you guys are throwing down. I also own approximately 98% of the cd's i post, i buy these cd's to support the artist, i post cd's in lame mp3 and hope it helps spread the word about your work.
If you or James Muller ever comes to St. Louis MO. i will buy a ticket and attend the show.
Thats another way for me to support the artist.
--- On Tue, 12/2/08, Sean Wayland wrote:
From: Sean Wayland
Subject:
To: crimhead420@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 4:08 PM
re: james muller blog .
I dont think it's the right thing to do mate
While I appreciate your frustration regarding sharing music I would like to point out that Stans blog provides a valuable service for independent musicians that you seem to overlook. Who is James Mueller? Have I ever heard his music on FM radio? Who are all those other musicians that Stan showcases on his site? Many are exceptionally talented musicians who are relatively unknown to non-musicians. Based on the number of viewers on his site I'd have to say many have a wider audience today after having been reviewed on his site.
ReplyDeleteI see your point but I think the right thing for Stan to do is to post links to James website , and CDs for sale etc ... James himself has the option to give his music away and he has chosen not to . If stan pointed his listeners here http://www.seanwayland.com/pistachio.html
ReplyDeletethey could hear James plays an absolutely blistering solo on "arc is enough" which is free for people to check out . James and I have invested ten's of thousands of dollars recording these CD's and if people can get it for free , then why should they pay us ... I strongly believe that the end result of file sharing is lesser quality music , or less recordings . As musicians we should be joining forces politically to try and improve things . Breaking the law and stealing other people's rights is not the answer in my opinion .
stan's blog ( aka europa OR "stantana" ) also gives away such hard to find and obscure music from : Herbie Hancock , Weather Report, Chick Corea , John Scofield, Jimi Hendrix , Miles Davis , Jack Dehjonette , Mike Stern .... including some of their most recent releases
ReplyDeletewe are closing in on this guy
ReplyDeleteHello Sean.
ReplyDeleteI did not write the comment made by Europa, that is a close friend speaking on my behalf.
It is not my heart wish to become "famous", I am just a man with a guitar and a few cd's...including Sean Wayland - 2002 "Colossus Of Rhodes".
I have posted James's link to his website on the post, it has been on there since the beginning.
I posted your site on there as well.
Hi Stan ,
ReplyDeleteI know you love music and you have the best of intentions , I just strongly disagree with your efforts. I think it would be much better to set up a blog with links to everyone's music that is already freely available (myspace , youtube etc ) . My music sounds best in the studio . To date it hasn't been financially viable to tour . I often pay the musicians out of my own pocket to perform my compositions here in New York , let alone trying to fly a band around the world . James Muller has payed his airfare to New York more than once for the opportunity to do some recording with me , out of the kindness of his heart and the love of music . Hopefully things will change one day , but until then my only income from my own music is from sales of CDs ... There is no radio anymore but there is plenty of opportunities to listen to everyone's music now for free on the net . I believe that giving away James work @320kbs makes people less likely to pay for his CDs and mine . I respect you're opinion , but please consider this my last word on this subject ... time for me to get on with the job of writing and playing
respectfully yours
sean wayland