Help finding old JF*E tracks!
September 10, 2010 7:28 AM Subscribe
I am looking for digital copies of old songs by a band called Jonathan Fire*Eater...but there are problems.
The only material available on iTunes/Amazon and the like are the "Wolf Songs for Lambs" LP, and the "Tremble Under Boom Lights" EP, both of which I already own.
I'm looking for older material like "Cakewalk of Crime", and "Public Hanging of a Movie Star", but the band has been defunct for over a decade now, the material is long out of print, and the labels that released the material are also defunct.
Where can I find this material without engaging the secondary vinyl market and attempting to make digital copies myself? And what are the ethics around sharing MP3's of material that's otherwise unavailable, and is essentially rotting and fading into obscurity?
The only material available on iTunes/Amazon and the like are the "Wolf Songs for Lambs" LP, and the "Tremble Under Boom Lights" EP, both of which I already own.
I'm looking for older material like "Cakewalk of Crime", and "Public Hanging of a Movie Star", but the band has been defunct for over a decade now, the material is long out of print, and the labels that released the material are also defunct.
Where can I find this material without engaging the secondary vinyl market and attempting to make digital copies myself? And what are the ethics around sharing MP3's of material that's otherwise unavailable, and is essentially rotting and fading into obscurity?
I don't have digital (or even non-digital) copies of this particular music to share with you, but I do want to comment on your added question about the ethics of music sharing. If your activities are harming the income of a person who owns a copyright, there is some ethical complaint. Even then, it may be a very minor complaint - if you have caused someone with an annual income of $12,000,000 to lose an additional $50 of income, it's not that much of a crime. If, of course, you set up a major international distribution network of pirated copies and consequently reduce someone's income by 70%, that is ethically (and legally) serious. If we are talking about sharing music that is not commercially available anyway, I can see no ethical objection. You are not depriving anyone of their income. If someone really wanted to argue the point, they could claim that even when material is not commercially available, that doesn't mean that it will never become commercially available in the future. But honestly, I wouldn't worry about it.
I personally have shared quite a lot of music with people over the past 30 years or so, and on the whole I have increased the income of artists and record companies. I am advertising their work. I know of a number of cases in which people who have received free recordings from me were so impressed by the music that they later bought commercially released material by that artist. I feel no moral qualms about sharing music.
posted by grizzled at 7:53 AM on September 10, 2010
I personally have shared quite a lot of music with people over the past 30 years or so, and on the whole I have increased the income of artists and record companies. I am advertising their work. I know of a number of cases in which people who have received free recordings from me were so impressed by the music that they later bought commercially released material by that artist. I feel no moral qualms about sharing music.
posted by grizzled at 7:53 AM on September 10, 2010
I'll take your word for it, kaseijin, that PCP-entertainment is defunct and the material is out of print, but Public Hanging is listed in their catalog @ pcp-entertainment dot com, and the links to download mp3s from other bands is still functional, so before we get into the ethics of whose ox will be gored, you can apparently still obtain the material legally and without resorting to 2nd tier vinyl.
posted by beelzbubba at 9:34 AM on September 10, 2010
posted by beelzbubba at 9:34 AM on September 10, 2010
Response by poster: Yeah, PCP has been dead for a few years now. =/
Thanks for the link, however -- I put in an email to the guy, just in case, but I'm not expecting much.
posted by kaseijin at 10:49 AM on September 10, 2010
Thanks for the link, however -- I put in an email to the guy, just in case, but I'm not expecting much.
posted by kaseijin at 10:49 AM on September 10, 2010
I don't know if this helps but I still own Wolf Songs for Lambs on CD and would be happy to make a copy of it for you.
posted by Kitteh at 2:44 PM on September 11, 2010
posted by Kitteh at 2:44 PM on September 11, 2010
I went to high school with the Jonathan Fire*Eater guys and have some really old Ignobles stuff (from before they were JFE) on cassette that the band members were selling at school at one point. I could probably dig it up and rip it for you if you're interested.
posted by killdevil at 11:12 PM on September 12, 2010
posted by killdevil at 11:12 PM on September 12, 2010
Thanks, kasejin! Without this post, I doubt that I'd have heard of JF*E or picked them up if I saw an album. I am inordinately suspicious of bands with punctuation as a device in the name--although I do find I like Powerhouse Sound and Sunn0.
So, I picked up some JF*E this weekend. Wolf, Tremble, and Public Hanging. Overall, me like very much. I can see why you went to such trouble to track down the stuff you don't have. Now I have to see if I can find this Cakewalk forme us.
posted by beelzbubba at 8:52 AM on September 14, 2010
So, I picked up some JF*E this weekend. Wolf, Tremble, and Public Hanging. Overall, me like very much. I can see why you went to such trouble to track down the stuff you don't have. Now I have to see if I can find this Cakewalk for
posted by beelzbubba at 8:52 AM on September 14, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by two lights above the sea at 7:43 AM on September 10, 2010