The Copyright Violation Squad

Home , Mark Hosler, Negativland, Seeland Records

CVSbulletin COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SQUAD FIRST DISPATCH • FEBRUARY 1993

he Copyright Violation Squad (CVS) was founded in 1992 in an effort to make Tpublicly available those cultural works

which have been suppressed because they theoretically vio- lated copyright law. It is our view at the CVS that, in spite of the the questionable legal nature of these releases, they are nonetheless valid products of cultural work — ethically valid in their own right — and as such, deserve to be heard by those who are interested in them. [continues A STATIC OUTPUT PUBLICATION http://cvs.detritus.net/ C.V.S. BULLETIN FIRST DISPATCH CONTENTS Graphic for cover and News & Commentary by EDITOR ...... 1815 “Disclaimer” by Brian Goldberg ...... 1821 Parallel Culture by Luke McGuff ...... 1822 “What Happens to the Reader?” by Ross Martin from Your Name Here . 1824 How SST Sees It: Negativland’s U2 by Greg Ginn...... 1826 Negativland Gets Their Say… ...... 1829 The Electric Triad by Fortner Anderson ...... 1831 Graphic by Lloyd Dunn...... 1832-33 General Reviews by EDITOR ...... 1835

CONTACTS Mystery Laboratories, P.O. Box 727 Station P, Toronto, Ont. M5S 2Z1 Canada CVS–Ohio Chapter, 6370 York Rd, Ste 115, Parma Hts OH 44130 Stupidland, P.O. Box 136 Station P, Toronto, Ont. M5S 2S7, Canada Mike Pearce, P.O. Box 451265, Atlanta GA 30345 Chris Berthoud, 73 Fitzgerald House, East India Dock Rd, London E14 OHH UK Electric Shock Treatment, 35 Fordington Ave, Winchester SO22 5AN UK Frans de Waard, Opaalstraat 19, 6534 XK Nijmegen, Netherlands Stride, Rupert Loydell, 37 Portland St, Newton, Exeter, Devon EX1 2EG UK 1 Turbo Queer, 8283 ⁄4B Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood CA 90046 Brian Goldberg, P.O. Box 419 Prince St Station, New York NY 10012 Luke McGuff, P.O. Box 31848, Seattle WA 98103 Ross Martin, P.O. Box 10355, Portland ME 04104 Greg Ginn, SST Records, P.O. Box 1, Lawndale CA 90260 Negativland/Mark Hosler, 2608 62nd Ave NW, Olympia WA 98502 Fortner Anderson, 4083 Clark St, Montreal, Que. H2W 1X1, Canada

The CVS Bulletin is edited by Lloyd Dunn and spon- Send a self-addressed stamped envelope, and we will sored by the Drawing Legion, a non-profit perfor- send you a complete listing of items available. mance and intermedia company based in Cedar Rap- Submissions of writing and graphic work are ids, Iowa. welcome and encouraged. No submitted work will be Issues of The CVS Bulletin appear sporadically, in returned unless it arrives here accompanied by a self- intermittent series with other Drawing Legion Publica- addressed stamped return envelope. tions, such as Retrofuturism, YAWN, and PhotoStatic Everyone who contributes in some way to any Magazine. Subscriptions for one year of Drawing Drawing Legion Publication, whether they send a letter Legion Publications, up to 200 pages of output, cost to the editor, or a work to be reviewed, or work to be $10, delivered bulk rate in the US. The rate is $12 for published, will receive a copy of whatever issue in delivery to Mexico or Canada; $18 elsewhere by sur- which their contribution appears. Send all editorial face rate. In all cases, local currency equivalent is mail to: [email protected]. Websites at: http://cvs. acceptable if you send cash. Back issues are available. detritus.net/ and http://psrf.detritus.net/.

1818 COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SQUAD FEBRUARY 1993 NEWS & COMMENTARY continued from front cover] So far, three titles have been put into redistribution by the CVS. These include: The CD Plunderphonic, made by Toronto’s Mystery Labs (a.k.a. composer John Oswald). Litigation against this recording was threatened by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (on behalf of Michael Jackson) for infringement of copyright. Oswald was forced to turn over the master tapes, and all undistrib- uted copies of the disc were destroyed, in spite of the fact that he was giving them away and paid for the production and manufacture of the disc out of his own pocket. for the fact that they both sported provoca- The single U2 by San Francisco Bay tive graphic art on their covers. The Area’s Negativland. Although it is un- Plunderphonic CD showed a collage im- clear what the members of U2 think, they age by Oswald showing Michael allowed their management to file suit Jackson’s head and clothing on the body against Negativland and SST Records, of a nude woman (see above). The and to rack up some $70,000 in legal Negativland recording’s cover art taunted fees. Once again, the master tapes were U2’s management by having “the letter U turned over to the litigator and all remain- and the numeral 2” featured more promi- ing copies of the single in all formats were nently than anything else on the record’s destroyed. In addition, the copyright, cover. What CVS is not saying is that which was held by Negativland and SST these artists “were asking for it,” so to was turned over to Island, making them speak. We would merely like to point out the “owner” of the recorded work. that the legality (or illegality) of sonic (The CVS would like to point out that it sampling has not been clearly established. believes that neither of these audio works On the other hand, the protocols for the might have been in trouble had it not been use of copyright or otherwise protected

To get a copy of all three of the works currently on the CVS roster, send a blank 100-minute cassette (PLEASE NOTE: This specific length makes our dubbing procedure more efficient than any other) and a self-addressed, sufficiently stamped return mailer to the this address: Copyright Violation Squad, P.O. Box 227, Iowa City IA 52244. A $1 donation is requested for each dub ordered. This will help to defray the routine costs of cassette recorder and CD player maintenance. http://cvs.detritus.net/ 1819 C.V.S. BULLETIN FIRST DISPATCH

To date (January 12, 1993) the CVS–Iowa Chapter has redistributed 328 copies of Plunderphonic, 181 copies of Negativland’s U2, and 22 copies of Rubaiyát. words and graphics (which includes trade- from the pop group Abba, whose man- marks) is fairly well established by the agement sued, so the case is apparently legal system, and therefore the prospects very similar to that of both Negativland for success in such a litigation are more and Plunderphonic. We have not yet likely. It seems to us that both Negativland contacted KLF, but as soon as it is all and Oswald might have gotten by with worked out, an announcement will be their nominal musuical “theft,” but clearly made. If anyone knows how they can be the unauthorized used of proprietary reached, let us know. graphic motifs left them wide open to litigation. This is mentioned only because it might be useful information for anyone CVS Opens interested in undertaking projects which make use of copyright-protected works. New Chapter in Ohio Little doubt the observation is no consola- In keeping with our V I O L A T T I O H N G tion either to Oswald or to Negativland.) I S basic idea of mak- R Q Y U P The third title redistributed by CVS is A ing cultural work O D

John Oswald’s Rubaiyát, which was O widely available and

R an application of the Plunderphonic con- H decentralized, the E

I T O cept to Elektra Record’s catalog of back P new Ohio Chap- releases. Elektra got wind of Oswald’s C H A ter of the Copy- row with the CRIA and decided to com- right Violation Squad is now in op- mission Oswald to make a work com- eration. memorating the 40th anniversary of Elektra The Ohio Chapter will operate accord- records. The promo-only CD EP was with- ing to the same procedures as the one drawn from circulation (to radio stations based in Iowa (for procedures, see bot- only) by Elektra (According to Oswald, tom, p. 1817). The same roster of titles is “…the estate for one of the artists insisted available. The same terms for acquiring on an exorbitant mechanical royalty.”) them subsists. The address is: CVS–Ohio and Oswald requested that CVS add it to Chapter, Suite 115, 6370 York Road, its roster. So we did. Parma Heights OH 44130. In addition, the CVS is working on We are trying to get as many people as adding another title to its roster: KLF’s possible to form CVS Chapters, partly in Presents the Jams 1987. This record was an effort to diffuse responsibility for this brought to our attention by Stewart Home, activity, but mostly just to get these works of London, England. It was pulled from into the hands and ears of more people. distribution because it had used samples If you or anyone you know is interested in

1820 COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SQUAD FEBRUARY 1993 NEWS & COMMENTARY opening their own chapter of the Copy- Some Letters right Violation Squad — it’s easy — just inquire at this address. Now all we need is an Idaho Chapter and then wouldn’t everyone be confused.

Anti-U2 Compilation Cassette Announced Someone at an unnamed Toronto P.O. I was glad to see your article in Retrofutur- Box has put out a call for submissions to ism on [no. 16, p. 1750] your blatant be considered for inclusion on an “anti- disregard of the SST vs. Island Records tribute” cassette compilation dedicated to ruling. It is disgusting that Island would mega-rock group U2. sue for Negativland’s appropriation of The compilation is being put together the U2 symbol (when they have appropri- “…in protest of the corporate/legal bully- ated it from the USAF). There seems to be ing of experimental music group a lack of understanding of what it means Negativland by…Island Records…”. The to take a symbol and change it or com- announcement also states, “They F-ed ment on it. Negativland, They F-ed John Oswald — The many recent court cases involving and they could FU2.” intellectual property show that laws that Apparently to be entitled Stupidland, were intended to protect inventors/cre- the deadline for submission is listed as ators and to encourage dissemination of “mid-December ’92,” so readers inter- information have been used to punish ested in submitting or acquiring should those who re-use or improve the inven- inquire first: call (416) 58- 0705, or write: tions/creations of others. Brown Bag Soft- Stupidland, P.O. Box 136 Station P, ware lost against Lotus for copying the Toronto, Ont., M5S 2S7 Canada. keystroke structure of 1–2–3 (how can —EDITOR one “own” keystroke sequences?). NWA settled out of court with Tin Dog for samples of NWA’s drumbeat; the first rap-on-rap sampling case. There seems to be a shifting of definition of what intellectual property is, from the definition of a whole work being this property, to the definition of even the most insignificant portion of a work being a copyrightable piece of property. There seems to be more and more lawsuits where even references (i.e., James Brown) to a work or icon are seen as infringe- ments. One the positive side, both the http://cvs.detritus.net/ 1821 C.V.S. BULLETIN FIRST DISPATCH Xerox vs. Apple Computer and Apple vs. Plagiarism: Microsoft cases of computer interface metaphor copying were thrown out, al- The Issue Lives On though on technical grounds. Just as disgusting as Island’s suit is the Although the last Festival Of Plagiarism consumerism of those that were lucky took place in 1989, judging from recent enough to get copies of Negativland’s U2 accounts in what’s come to be known as before it was withdrawn. I’ve heard sto- the “alternative press,” the issue contin- ries of people going to record stores, ues to stir debate and lively exchange. buying all the copies of U2, and then Take issue number 3, the summer, 1992, selling them at record shows for 20 to 30 issue of Electric Shock Treatment, a news dollars. These people see the CD as a and review magazine that comes out of product, and not for the point that Winchester, England. In a six-page, four- Negativland is trying to make (I don’t part article entitled “The Unacceptable know what the point is, since I haven’t Face of Plagiarism?,” the ’zine gives the heard it yet). …I hope that you will con- low-down on the subject, with specifics on tinue to fight these anachronistic notions.… the Negativland/U2 altercation, John —M. Pearce, Atlanta, Georgia Oswald, the Tape-beatles (their CD Music with Sound is called “…a powerful, com- …I am sure that you will be obtaining pelling album…”), and Stewart Home’s some grim satisfaction from the recent 1988 book Plagiarism: Art as Commod- news about U2 and the trouble brewing ity and Strategies for its Negation. This between them and Jenny Holzer. She is article is small-press reporting at its best. claiming that the “imagery” used on their Copies of EST go for £1.50. Write: 35 latest tour and in the video for their single Fordington Ave, Winchester SO22 5AN, “The Fly” is a direct steal from her work. United Kingdom. This has resulted in the amazing statement Another ambitious piece of reportage from a spokesperson for the band: “In on plagiarism comes from the Dutch jour- today’s pop culture everybody is influ- nal Vital: Magazine for Electronic and enced by everybody else.” Other people Electroacoustic Music. The June, 1992, are plagiarists, but U2 operate on an issue (no. 24) carries the third of a multi- altogether higher plane, it would seem. part series called “The Anti-Copyright This remarkable hypocrisy is nothing more Discussion,” by Anton Viergever. It splits than what could be expected from such a hairs and covers all the bases in its expo- band, but it is always pleasing to see it sition of the issues important to “The New highlighted in such a blatant fashion. Paul Breed” of plagiarists. Other items of note McGuiness has described Holzer’s reac- in this issue are a four-page exclusive tion as “mischievous and grabbing for interview with “America’s Foremost Cul- attention,” apparently something that tural Embezzlers,” the Tape-beatles (again, never crossed U2’s minds when they acted written by Viergever), and a brief essay against Negativland. by Achim Wollscheid entitled simply, “Pla- —Chris Berthoud, London, England giarism.” Vital is available for ﬂ12.50 (or

1822 COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SQUAD FEBRUARY 1993 NEWS & COMMENTARY inquire) from: Frans de Waard, Opaal- you guessed it, Better Homos & Gardens. straat 19, 6534 XK Nijmegen, Nether- Described as “…a quarterly ’zine of lands. Oh, yeah, the entire journal is in poetry, fiction, and visual art by some of English. the queer activist community’s best-known Scotland’s Peak Listening Period, issue artists…”, Homos apparently brought 1 no. 33 ⁄3 of the series Stride, also enters down Meredith’s wrath through a “…con- the fray. Not only does it reproduce what fusingly similar…name and appearance is apparently an authentic sales brochure to…” Homes. In addition, Meredith ap- for the company that produces Muzak parently took offense at the homosexual (which, we are told, “…can mitigate stress content, citing that Homos’ format and produce beneficial psychological “…would clearly have a tendency to changes. The entire process is known as impugn [Better Homes & Gardens] and Muzak stimulus progression. It is totally injure the plaintiff’s reputation.” unique. And no music alone can achieve The effect of the lawsuit was apparent: it. Because music is art. But MUZAK is Levy was forced to stop using the name science.…”), it also devotes three pages Better Homos & Gardens, opting instead to Tape-beatle propaganda penned and for Turbo Queer in all future output. The designed by the lads from landlocked less obvious agenda at Meredith, it would Iowa. Reproduced are two Rolling Stone seem, was to vigorously distance them- detournements entitled, “The Tape-beatles selves from any appearance that might win unusual self-plagiarism suit,” and “For lead people to believe they have any the members of the Tape-beatles, the sympathy whatsoever for nontraditional silence lasts 4 minutes, 33 seconds,” as life-styles. For more information, contact well as “Plagiarism®: A Recombinant Jordan Peimer at (213) 650-7590. Essay.” Peak Listening Period is edited by Chris Mitchell, and is available from: Stride DISCLAIMER Publications, 37 Portland Street, Exeter, Devon, EX1 2EG, United Kingdom. Your presence here constitutes acceptance of the terms of said disclaimer granting permission to Big Publisher photograph and record you visually and orally for whatever reason, Attempts to Smash including use in TV and/or film Small One productions, newspapers, magazines, etc. You hereby grant universal rights In another alarming case of litigational for any reproduction of your image, overkill, Meredith Corporation of Des likeness, or voice in any form Moines, Iowa, the publisher of the whatsoever. pollyanna periodical Better Homes & Gardens, has filed suit against Dan Levy, INV89001 who is the editor of a queerzine called, http://cvs.detritus.net/ 1823 C.V.S. BULLETIN FIRST DISPATCH

arallel What exactly is a ‘parallel culture’? PNothing more and nothing less than a culture which for various reasons will not, cannot, or may not reach out to the public through the media which fall under state control.

Vaclav Havel, “Six Asides About Culture,” Living In Truth

ncountering Havel’s words was like finding the secret opening: I felt that he referred directly to a life I had Ebeen living, and a work I had been creating, for several years. The parallel culture exists in America, and can ultimately put as many cracks in the edifice of our

1824 COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SQUAD FEBRUARY 1993 PARALLEL CULTURE dominant culture as the parallel culture that provide a genuine critique or lam- of Czechoslovakia put in its. poon of the dominant culture; for example, The opening was because I thought the tribulations of Negativland and Havel’s description fit our parallel culture Plunderphonic, which have been detailed better than other attempts to define or in Retrofuturism (no. 15, p. 1750) and describe it — i.e., as “marginal,” “small other magazines. press,” or whatever. Parallel gave it more The dominant culture works reach, more power. Culture in the U.S. today is not as to give us the impression that blatantly state-controlled as in Czechoslo- vakia. Our dominant culture is controlled it is the only culture, that Culture by economics, and the profitability of a everything else is a kind of statement is more important than the statement itself. frightening avant garde, dan- Supposedly challenging songs like Ice T’s “Cop Killer” are allowed into the gerous and threatening to culture because he provides a spectacu- lar form of entertainment and a release for our central values (well, what his audience. He is protected because of do they expect? his profitability; when he is no longer profitable, Time–Warner (the world’s larg- But it is not the case that the dominant est entertainment corporation) will dump culture is the only culture. In fact, what him. Time–Warner talks piously about Havel describes as “hundreds of samizdat First Amendment rights, and the right of volumes, tens of typewritten magazines,

an artist to make a statement. That right private or semi-official exhibitions, semi- they claim will end when his records no nars, concerts and other events. . .” (Havel, longer come into the black. Where are p. 125) exists in their own forms in the Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, United States, in the thousands of zines on where are Run DMC? every subject, cassette culture music, the On the other hand, corporations will go mail art exhibitions, the networker confer- to a great deal of effort to censor works ences and other events. These work to- http://cvs.detritus.net/ 1825 C.V.S. BULLETIN FIRST DISPATCH

gether to form a parallel culture that exists another, one agenda or another. Again, in the very cracks of the dominant culture, to quote Havel: a parallel culture without agenda or program that is primarily a form of mechani- If so much of the art shown in official cal weathering, cracking the solid face of exhibits is indeed below average, and the edifice of the dominant culture. better art can be found only on the This parallel culture does include deep periphery…this is…simply because the critiques of society that challenge domi- prospect of public recognition and lucra- nant culture to its very basis; but it also tive commissions in our country, today includes works and creations that are more than at other times and in other basically pretty — the pop tune cassette places, is incompatible with that stub- or small town poetry collection might born, uncompromising effort to reach out be archetypal examples. But the paral- for some personal truth without which, it lel culture is not limited by one form or seems, there can be no real art. The more

1826 COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SQUAD FEBRUARY 1993 PARALLEL CULTURE

an artist compromises to oblige power challenge comes from the and gain advantages, the less good art can we expect from him; the more freely need to re-express and and independently, by contrast, he does reaffirm one’s thoughts and his own thing — whether with the expres- sion of a rebellious bohemian or without creativity (high ceiling). In it — the better his chances of creating contrast, the ceiling of the something good — though it remains only a chance: what is uncompromising need dominant culture is low and not automatically be good. (Havel, p. the threshhold is high. One is not sup- 131-132) posed to challenge oneself with new artistic and aesthetic questions (ceiling), one is The parallel culture existed in Czecho- merely to remain profitable (threshhold). slovakia because the government ap- The cassette culture is essentially the proved some art and not others. Not all same for music, and mail art is the same the unofficial art was inherently political for art and artists. All three major divi- in nature. Today in the U.S., the parallel sions of the parallel culture exist in culture is not always politically or aestheti- cooperation and trade; that is, most cally opposed to the dominant culture. everyone is willing to give away their Some participants just want to find their product in return for other participants’ niche, to say what they feel like saying. product. In all fields, there are those Zines are published sporadically all who do as little as possible; in all fields, over the country (and the world, of course). also, there are people for whom “the Their topics include art, music, queer only thing that matters is the urgency of culture, science fiction, comics, the beats, artistic truth” (Havel, p. 133). multiculturalism, anarchism, intentional Zinesters, cassette traders, and mail communities, and on and on. The publish- artists will never be rich from their work; ers range in age and abilities from teen- most can only hope to have the produc- agers scrawling out a few copies on a tion be self-supporting. Almost all reject school copier to well-established practi- grants or any form of establishment ap- tioners who own their own presses. Most proval; American parallel culture is al- zines appear in small editions of a couple most self-destructively opposed to co- hundred, once or twice a year. The field optation and the kind of big times Ameri- exists in a state of flux: there is no history, cans equate with success. no center, no continuity. This makes it both Because we in the parallel culture have democratic and challeng- the freedom to risk, we have the freedom to say anything, on any topic. We might ing to all. The democracy find only a small audience, but there are comes from the ease of zinesters, mail artists, and cassette traders who have reached international promi- entry (low threshhold); the nence. —Luke McGuff http://cvs.detritus.net/ 1827 C.V.S. BULLETIN FIRST DISPATCH

February 3, 1992 The From: Greg Ginn Re: Island Records, Ltd. et al. vs. SST Records et al Contro - (Case #91-4735AAH (GHKx)) versy lthough we would much rather get over back to the work of promoting our A music, the misinformation being spread in this case compels me to set the Negativ - record straight. Negativland has announced their de- land parture from SST claiming that the label had insisted on recouping “…the entire amount of damages incurred in the U2 U2 lawsuit out of our future royalties.” This assertion by Negativland is a smoke screen Con - to hide the fact the the group has stuck SST Records with a loss in excess of $90,000 tinues that the group had in fact agreed to take responsibility for and accept. The fact is that SST will consider itself fortunate if we are able to recoup even 10% of this loss

1828 COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SQUAD FEBRUARY 1993 NEGATIVLAND vs. SST RECORDS from future Negativland royalties. At Although SST certainly did not foresee Negativland’s current level of sales, SST the problems created by the Island/ would recoup the loss in the year 2257 Warner–Chappell lawsuit, Negativland’s A.D. I’m not holding my breath until that past recordings have contained material date. Negativland’s offer to split the losses that both the group and SST have been 50/50 with SST is actually a smoke nervous about releasing. These concerns screen because the way that the offer is regarding numerous potential problems worded would actually result in that the group’s use of material may Negativland paying almost nothing. create have been discussed by group Negativland has in the past always members and myself on several occa- agreed in principle to accept responsibil- sions. The agreement in our contract with SST Sees It ity for the material supplied to SST. Now, the group is that they take full responsibil- after SST taking a $90,000 fall as a result ity for any losses incurred by the label due of material Negativland chose to release, to claims resulting from Negativland’s use the group’s ethics have conveniently of material belonging to third parties. changed. To be blunt, the group has lied. This sort of contract provision is stan- Negativland member Mark Hosler can dard because obviously a label can’t apparently no longer recall my numerous always know where a band gets its mate- conversations with him in which he reiter- rial. For example, somebody recently told ated the group’s commitment to pay for all me that a Negativland piece has a Simple costs which may result from their use of Minds sample on it. I hate Simple Minds. material in which a third party claims I would never listen to the Simple Minds ownership. I suggest that myself and long enough to even know whether a Mark Hosler commit to a lie detector test sample comes from them. Phil Collins is

to determine who is the lying party. I allegedly sampled by Negativland. I don’t contend that Mark Hosler is a lying know — I don’t listen to Collins either. motherfucker. I also suggest that the pub- Apparently, I’ve unknowingly released all lications who have printed under-re- of this material. searched misinformation in this case vol- Negativland is a hobby. Members of unteer to pay the cost of this test. the group have well-paying day jobs http://cvs.detritus.net/ 1829 C.V.S. BULLETIN FIRST DISPATCH outside of the record industry. They are ing to defend our cause. Apparently, not poor, nor do they depend on their Negativland are hobby lawyers as well. group for more than extra income. In their This resulted in our lawyers threatening a history, they have never toured and have few times to drop our case because they only played occasional live shows. didn’t want to be associated with flaky, The fact that Negativland is but an irresponsible clients who are arguing ir- occasional hobby for its members has relevant, amateur legal points. allowed them the freedom to take well- The end result is that with the games deserved shots at the music industry. This Negativland was playing, we felt forced is great. However, the group’s lack of to accept a very unfavorable settlement. experience in the music business and their Had Negativland stuck with us in fighting ability to fall back of cushy day jobs is a Island/Warner–Chappell we could have liability to those of us in the “real world” obtained a better settlement. If the group who have worked with the group. had stuck to its agreement with us, we I took the Island/Warner–Chappell law- would have been able to do benefits and suit and court injunction seriously. I real- other fund raisers to mitigate the losses. ized that we were dealing with an angry But Negativland are paranoid, isolated and powerful company who had just from the “real world,” they are victims of spent more on recording the latest U2 the media cocoon that they frequently record than we have recording our entire lampoon. I suggest that Negativland take catalog of over 400 records in our 14- a year or two off from their corporate day year history.… I had already, along with jobs and media obsessions to travel out Chuck Dukowski, spent five days in L.A. from their cushioned, upper-middle class County jail in 1983 for allegedly violat- surroundings to see how the other ing a court injunction for releasing the side lives. Black Flag Everything went Black LP. L.A. Anybody vaguely familiar with the eco- County jail wasn’t a pleasant place (espe- nomics of the record business and cially for a Black Flag member at that Negativland’s place in it can rightly as- point in time), so suffice it to say I wasn’t sume that SST has never made money interested in violating an injunction and releasing Negativland records. SST has returning there. at many times stuck its neck out for the Negativland, however, has treated the group only now to be subject to Nega- whole episode as a joke at SST’s ex- tivland’s “take the money and run” atti- pense. The group had promised to hire a tude. I hope that interested members of lawyer in the instance of any problem. the media will take the time to research With their upper middle-class corporate their facts properly before reporting mis- day-job incomes they could definitely af- information that can have a negative ford this easier than myself. Instead, they impact on the thirty people working at badgered the lawyers that we had to hire SST, but is just another cheap laugh for with irrelevant, time-wasting and injunc- cushioned, paranoid upper-middle class tion-violating communications which only malcontents. drove up our legal expenses without help- —Greg Ginn

1830 COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SQUAD FEBRUARY 1993 NEGATIVLAND vs. SST RECORDS Negativland Gets

HT INFRI Their Say… IG NG YR E P M O E C N T Excerpted from Negativland’s •

•

“Christmas Newsletter 1992” I

…Last September, feeling we had an interesting A

story to tell about how something as simple as an U

T R

officeful of angry unmusical businesspeople armed E

A with too much money and some out-of-date copy- E T N

R T right notions had propelled us through a horrible E nightmare of lawsuits, lawyers, liars, and loss, we released a 96-page magazine with CD entitled The Letter U and the Numeral 2 •We’re being sued by SST for copyright that documented the entire Negativland/ infringement (because we reprinted their SST/U2/Island Records episode. The press releases). magazine simply presented the lawsuit, •We’re being sued by SST’s corporate rock court orders, faxes, public statements and lawyer for printing a picture of SST’s press releases from all the parties, letters, “Corporate Rock Still Sucks” sticker. etc., in chronological order, with no com- •We’re being sued for printing their corpo- mentary from us, so that the reader could rate rock lawyer’s letter saying that they examine the facts and make up his or her want to sue us. own mind as to what it all “meant.” Apparently Greg Ginn, owner of SST Funny stuff. But the grim fact is that Records, thinks otherwise. On November Greg’s actions are destroying any oppor- 10, two months after the release of the tunity we might have had to get back on magazine, he brought a five-count law- our feet financially (we’re trying to self- suit against us which essentially seeks to release all our own stuff now) and could punish us for going public with the dirty easily prevent us from releasing any other laundry. Yes, we have been sued. Yes, new work for the next two years! again. And now it appears that the real Negativland is what we do, and this nightmare may only be just beginning. magazine was our first new release back If you’re not actually a member of on our own Seeland Records label. We Negativland — or if you’ve never sued now know that we could have sold many, yourself — you might find some aspects of many more than the original limited edi- the lawsuit to be quite hilarious: tion of the magazine; it seems far more people are interested in our story than we •We’re being sued to stop us from selling a initially expected. This new case could magazine about being sued. easily drag on for two years more, and http://cvs.detritus.net/ 1831 C.V.S. BULLETIN FIRST DISPATCH although we think we’ll win in the end, we using his economic might to crush the can’t safely make and sell more copies of small and the weak.… The Letter U and the Numeral 2 until the [There is] some other stuff in [the law- court decides on SST’s copyright claims. suit] about “breach of contract”; that’s all Greg Ginn is already keeping all of our about how they still claim that we owe royalties from all seven releases we have them every dime they had to spend over on SST to pay himself back for the U2 the Island suit (despite: gaping holes in costs, and he knows that even if we their contract; our denials to their claims believed in suing people we can’t afford that we promised to pay; all the money to sue him to get him to agree to our 50/ they made by selling the record; our 50 split offer. This case is going to cost providing the Guns record to replace the Greg Ginn a lot more money than he has U2 record; our flat-out inability to pay; all any reasonable hope of recovering from the money they made by selling the record; us in any reasonable time frame (you can SST’s own decision to put the record out bet his lawyer isn’t working for free). So knowing there might be problems; and why is he suing us? Well, it seems that his our standing offer to split the losses 50/ main reason is…revenge. SST grosses 50), and about how they think we owe millions of dollars a year — you can look them master tapes for two new releases it up in their credit report printed in our that we cancelled when they stuck us with magazine (he’s suing over that, too — of the whole U2 damage (despite: our at- course — despite the fact that it’s readily tempts to repay the advances; the fact that available public information that SST them- their lawyer said they might not ever be selves provided), so he can certainly af- interested in releasing the records; and ford to waste dozens, perhaps hundreds, the fact that the tapes aren’t even finished of thousands of dollars that it’ll cost to take yet and the contracts aren’t even signed). us to trial. We can’t. He seems quite SST is basically punishing us because happy to behave towards us in the same we’ve resisted being abused.… way as Island Records did to him and us, —Negativland, December, 1992

Contacts

Greg Ginn, 10500 Humbolt St, Los Alamitos CA 90720; tel. 310/430-7687; fax 310/430-7286 Negativland, 1920 Monument Blvd MF-1, Concord CA 94520; fax 510/420- 0469 Casey Kasem c/o Westwood One Radio Network, 9540 Washington Blvd, Culver City CA 90232; tel. 310/840-4000; fax 310/840-4051

SST is also suing the Meat Puppets for circulating among other SST bands a draft of an open letter to the music industry asking SST to stop mistreating its talent. Contact: Jamie Kitman; tel. 914/359-4502; fax 914/359-4739

1832 COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SQUAD FEBRUARY 1993 THE ELECTRIC TRIAD The Electric Triad

s the twentieth century draws to a close, it appears that the rapid and metastatic development of the elec- A tronic technologies will be one of its prominent char- acteristics. Three great devices come immediately to mind as having changed us utterly: the television, the telephone, and the computer. Each was a technical marvel, a dream come true, labour-saving, cost-efficient, have been my companions. While my and now universal. They appeared within time and place within my community has a world that had been bludgeoned by the been measured and recalled by the com- second great world war within a genera- puting machines which husband the data tion and they grew within this people which are now my heritage. Together quickly, profoundly, touching every as- these three have provided me a place, a pect of their lives, leavening the commu- comfort, and perhaps even a little solace. nity with order, intelligence, wit, and Though wondrous and of impeccable current events. Together this electric triad value, each of these devices in and of has emancipated us from the parochial, itself was incomplete. The television re- helped to wither prejudice, and brought leased man from constraints which had an end to the country-simple world of the hindered him since creation. It freed him days before. from the heavy presence of his flesh and Ever since I remember the bright shad- he was able to view into an ephemeral ows of the television and the quiet voiced world of his own making where sight held blessings of the telephonic community a palpable kinship to life itself. With his http://cvs.detritus.net/ 1833 C.V.S. BULLETIN FIRST DISPATCH body inert and gaze held fast, we lived To reach out and touch someone you the experience of countless others. This need a telephone. For the human touch, meeting eye-to-eye gave this encounter a only the sotto-voiced spirits of the wires, truth. We each saw for ourselves, and this the electro-mechanical telepathy of the transparent and ever-present dreamworld telephone, can suffice. was believed. There we made together a The telephone commingles us with fascinating and attractive reality, created the other, to use it we must speak. by this communion of essences, a rapture With this act, we make the con- where the other’s lips speak and their eye nection. We attach ourselves to meets our own. the great network of the tele- Our society’s great cultural institutions phone whose wires cover labor ceaselessly to create this reality of the earth in a mantle of shadows. The corporate behemoths who speech. All the wor-ld’s control this enterprise employ hundreds of words enter the ma- thousands of specialists who cull the world chine, and each time searching for the sparks of life that will we raise it from its provide sufficient harvest of image neces- cradle we give sary to feed the other reality. No effort is ourselves to it spared. It is a mighty human endeavor. as yet another We have succeeded in making a spectral nexus of its universe which spans a hundred of our fibrous worlds, wrapped in a time which covers body. all of our known creation. The Infinitely more complex and useful than for- the glass shop window, the television captures and puts under glass not merely objects for sale but the real lives of other people. On TV we see their intense sorrow, their sublime tragedy, their abstract humanity, and perhaps most impor- tantly their constant frenzied activity. Never a moment is wasted in these lives, rarely an instant of silence. It is a full, over-flowing, unstop- pable, unbeatable and never- ending universe. It’s television. Yet for all that we remain untouched by its magic, we remain alone because like the eign speech enters our ear and penetrates glass of the shop window we may see but directly to the interior, the place of our we can’t touch. own proper thoughts. Our eyes are blind.

1834 COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SQUAD FEBRUARY 1993 THE ELECTRIC TRIAD

Our own voice echoes about an empty who cater to our steamy vision of the room. Only when our own voice returns forbidden, it is only the telephone which and forces an entry into the interior arena will allow the touch without the meat. can the connection take place. In this These husky voices within our heads make close interior space, dialogue occurs. the sex of the shadow world as real as that Two disembodied voices meet and formerly achieved through sweat, smells, speak in the private secret place of and toil. our heads. They meld and be- Once these voices have entered into the come inextricable from our own head, though we may plea for them to end proper thoughts. this intrusion into ourselves, it has no Proper, private, intimate, effect. Our pleas create a communion and of course obscene. which soils. The only recourse is silence, Within the sacred con- repression, and a retreat from the realm. fines of our heads, the Yet our personhood, our vitality within obscene has its most society is tied to the access of these direct and penetrat- machines. Owning the television and the ing effect. There telephone are our birthright. Their use the obscene un- and function are as transparent as our folds a dark words and gestures — as the beating of flower; the our hearts. Only children, criminals, the 10,000 insane, and the abject poor are restricted expres- or denied their use. To willingly live with- sions out the television and telephone is a ofserious act of self-abnegation. It is anti- the social. It is the act of someone deeply troubled, mad. Our place in this world is with the machines. As the human medium linking these devices, we inhabit a special essential space. We enter both their realms through the incomprehensible texts of the printed circuit, the hierophantic scripture of base metal and elec- tromagnetism. Into each we enter alone, we are the flesh made machine. The body is wizened but the eyes, ears and mind live a higher order of experience. Our sight perverse. Whether it is the lonely pervert penetrates the world. Nothing is hidden. beating off in a darkened room or the No tragedy is too fearful, no sorrow too banks of trained professional operators hurtful, that we must not see it and know http://cvs.detritus.net/ 1835 C.V.S. BULLETIN FIRST DISPATCH it. At any moment we may throw our voice will allow access and we will provide life. across the world or the voice of the world Together and only together will the world might become us, and yet a gesture, to of tomorrow live to its fullest. ever our gaze a moment of silence, and it When this evolution is complete when is gone. Transparent yet present, the we have at last wed the flesh to the machines patiently await our essence. machine, those with the courage to take This ephemeral universe we have made the mantle of man’s greatest challenge of shadows and whispers are our dreams, and duty shall become the alchemists of our desires. We have made real our ideal the human soul. love for the world. Yet this other world You and I shall live lives of such infinite remains apart. It never achieves the status variety, the knowledge of the earth, all of “life.” This joie de vivre remains a knowledge, each and every recorded world of entertainments and escape, an fact of that activity which is human shall ephemeral and fleeting pleasure. We be ours. This knowledge will be our clarion rush to leave the dull day-to-day life and sign, our razor, our beacon. We shall ease into the comfort of the reality of our move over the earth entire, a quick and shadows, basking in the cozy intimacy of powerful sentience. The meta-man. a communion with friends. Yet the return The transition to this new age will with- to the grey flesh is pre-ordained. The ache out a doubt be a traumatic one. This vast to return to that soft comfort remains. and complete transformation of the hu- Each day we must recreate the process man project will and must entail a purging that began long before our births. Pulling as well as a renewal. Those who inte- ourselves up from the muddled flux of our grate, who provide the spar of flesh, who confused lives, we strive to make the become the medium of the machine shall world whole once more. In vain, for we inherit the heavens. Others unable or always return. We have made progress unwilling will gaze wishfully and perhaps along our journey. Working together with a little forlornly into a night sky bedazzled the telephone and television we have by the luminescent tracings of the streams created a powerful social-evolutionary of pure data. tool, yet to complete the transformation a —Fortner Anderson third essential is needed. ••• This third element is the computer. Cal- culating yet dutiful, cunning yet childlike, The author publishes a listing of cas- its birth completes the process begun long settes, producers and radio programs ago. Primitive now, soon we shall use it to that offer or showcase “…spoken word/ grasp the primal material of the ephem- audio writing/radio art/audio collage eral world and shape it as easily and as material.…” called Brazen Orali- grandly as we have shaped the iron, ties. It appears quarterly, and is avail- steel, and concrete of this outer life. With able from: Dromostexte, CKUT-FM 90.3, it, we shall alter the forms of the virtual 3480 McTavish B15, Montreal Qbc, H3A reality to suit our changed sensibilities. 1X9, Canada. Phone: (514) 398-8261; We will interact with the machines. They fax: (514) 398-8261.

1836 COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SQUAD FEBRUARY 1993 REVIEWS

by Branwyn/Frauenfelder

Beyond Cyberpunk

Image taken from

General Reviews

COMPILATION OF flypostering are well considered and nicely RADICAL FLYPOSTERS presented. His first points in the essay center around Flyposter Frenzy: Posters from the Anti- the photocopier as a kind of poor man’s copyright Network compiled by Matthew mass medium; all you have to do is put Fuller. Working Press, 85 St. Agnes Place, together a graphic and a slogan and you Kennington, London SE11 4BB UK. Ameri- can have it all over town within hours. Fuller can distributor: Inland Book Co., P.O. Box is also aware that most photocopiers are 120261, East Haven CT 06512 — installed in places of business, and for him Anticopyright is a decentralized service that this irony is no small part of the significance distributes radical visual works in the form of of the medium — if you can call it that — of xerox copies suitable for flypostering. This flypostering. To use the tools of business and book brings together some ninety of the divert these resources toward pointedly anti- most-requested flyposters from their cata- establishment content is a kind of poetic log. The best part of this collection — the justice, and a kind of detournement of mate- rabble-rousing nature of the works them- riel rather than just form. selves notwithstanding — is the long essay You might think that such a collection on this anti-establishment art form which could easily be turned into some sort of opens up the volume. Fuller’s understanding academic thesis, and consequently dilute and descriptions of the reasons and ethics of an important element of its message. That http://cvs.detritus.net/ 1837 C.V.S. BULLETIN FIRST DISPATCH does not happen here. The graphics are raw toes, Street Tech, Cyberculture. Each sec- and urgent, and the introduction exhorts us tion contains numerous essays, reviews, to break the spine of the book and use the and other reading material associated with pages as photocopier originals to do our the topic selected. Contact names and ad- own flypostering. dresses of individuals associated with the writings are also included, so you can go HYPERCARD ELECTRONIC directly to the source if you want to. Beyond COMPENDIUM Cyberpunk does a very nice job indeed of compiling and presenting a whole shitload Beyond Cyberpunk. HyperCard computer of information. It also avoids what I consider stack by Mark Frauenfelder and Gareth to be a pitfall of much computer-presented Branwyn. The Computer Lab, Route 4 Box information: this is not a featureless, sterile 54C, Louisa VA 23093 — Beyond Cyberpunk database laid out over purely alphanumeric represents a new kind of electronic publica- terrain. Instead, it is something like a cross tion that can only be read (or, more gener- between an infotainment program on televi- ally: interacted with) on the computer screen. sion and reading a cool cyberzine. My hat It is an attempt to go beyond what is possible is off to these fellows and the effort they went on the printed page, with each action the to to put all this information into one place in reader(? onlooker?) takes having a different the first place; on top of that, they’ve com- response from the software end of things. bined the info with graphic and sonic ex- The actions of the “stack” (in HyperCard amples of what’s being presented. parlance, a “stack” is a computer file in To my way of thinking, the stack design is HyperCard format which contains texts, somewhat problematic. The user can only graphics, sounds, and buttons which are enter Beyond Cyberpunk through one stack; associated with actions) are metaphors for any other means of opening the information the kinds of things we do with print maga- (there are lots of files that come with it) zines, i.e. “browse” and “page.” However, apparently don’t allow the stack to work on the computer screen these activities are properly. In addition, it takes a computer- constitute a kind of video game analogous eternity just to get through the start up to going to the library to look for information sequence for the stack. True, it is an enter- and being waylayed by what pops up along taining bit of sound and flickering images, the way. Along with the actions the onlooker and fun to watch — the first couple of times, sets in motion go sound and visual effects anyway. After that, it would be nice to be (wipes, scrolls, dissolves, flashes and blinks). able to get to the information directly with- These ingredients work effectively to im- out having to see the whole start-up se- merse you in what the two editors feel is a quence every time. glimpse at the world beyond cyberpunk. The main content of the stack (the main XEROGRAPHIC reason someone would be interested in it) is COLLAGE BOOK informational—you browse through lists of topics and go to the topic you want. There Your Name Here by Ross Martin. Inquire: are four sections, entitled Media, Manifes- Ross Martin, P.O. Box 10355, Portland ME

1838 COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SQUAD FEBRUARY 1993 REVIEWS

04104 — Simply put, this is the best visual In these releases, sounds are often dis- book that takes as its theme the act of torted to the extent that it’s difficult to easily reading I’ve come across in the mail art/ make out the source; at the same time xerox art/underground cultural world. fragments of sounds of obvious source waft Martin’s lavish 11x17 saddle-stitched con- in and out so that it’s definitely there; just struction is a xerographic essay-in-collage- provided within a new context. “Fernando” form which deconstructs, not only the act of from Wafer 1 pilfers Abba’s song of the reading, but the reader as well. [A work same name and puts it to an undulating, from Your Name Here appears on p. 1824 almost middle-eastern-sounding (but prob- of this issue.] The page designs are fluid, ably electronic) melody. The result has this graphic, and transformational; one concept happy melody (played slower than you’re moving gradually into the next, providing used to hearing it) undercut in such a way as an almost narrative continuity. Trust me to offer odd resonance to a backdrop that is when I say that words do not do it justice. closer to industrial music than it is to disco (If I may be so bold, I mean “real” industrial SEVEN-INCH VINYL music, by which I mean the “classical” stuff RECORD SERIES of the early and mid-eighties). Good as “Fernando” is, “Louisiana The Plagiarist presents “Louisiana Cookin’” Cookin’,” the flip, out-does it with gusto. c/w Fernando (Wafer 1) and “PANIC BORE- “Cookin’” forefronts a pounding solid rhythm DOM or Feeding Tube or Lazyboy or 144 interspersed with an intermittent, boisterous ARGUMENTS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF guitar-like figure. Throughout and on top TELEVISION” by Dad’s New Slacks c/w rides a time-dilated voice extolling the vir- “PORTABLE ANARCHY” by Busyditch (Wa- tues of David Duke, comparing him to John fer 2/Slug 2). Write: Wafer Face, P.O. Box Wayne, among other things. In its flippant 4272 Station A, Portland ME 04101 — jingoism married to that particular “tapey” 1 These two seven-inch 33 ⁄3 r.p.m. records sound, the quality of the listening experi- are the first and second release in what I ence here is at once scary and funny and understand to be a proposed series of song- you are advised not to miss out on it. This is length audio works that make open use of one great b-side. pilfered material. And so they are right up The second release piggy-backs works by our alley, so to speak. The four sides repre- Busyditch and Dad’s New Slacks, and it is sented here are, if not uniformly excellent, a fine follow-up which the space here does nonetheless fine examples of plagiarism as not allow me to get into much, except to say a “genre.” We are all familiar with the that these folks have a good series going — principles, no doubt: you take music that find out about it. —Lloyd Dunn you like (or particularly dislike), deconstruct it, put it back together, make it at the same Publications of all sorts that are sent in to time your own and nobody’s in particular. It be reviewed are welcome and strongly is the techniques that are used which may encouraged. If we review your work, you offer variance from what might otherwise be will get a free copy of whatever Drawing a decidedly staid program. Legion Publication the review appears in.

http://cvs.detritus.net/ 1839 S U B M I T Y O U R W O R K: Drawing about these media; in the form of graphics, Legion Publications are devoted generally essays, letters, reports, stories, and ex- to new media, forward-looking ideas and cerpts from like-minded works. We would aggressive voices, with an interest in how not maintain that the we stand strictly in these can work together to foster meaning- opposition to mainstream culture; but rather ful interactions among people striving for a alongside it. That is to say, our main mis- deeper understanding of what constitutes sion is to offer an alternative to big-money cultural activity in the machine age. It is our mass culture without at the same time belief that the apparent monopoly of atten- wallowing in self-pity about the limited re- tion exercised by large corporations in our sources available to the non-mainstream. culture is a decidedly two-edged sword. We are not “against” mass culture as such, Although this mechanism has tended to but we are “against” what usually passes disempower “the masses,” its machines for “participation” within it; that is to say, are at the same time sold to them directly or consumption. We wish to spur on what as inexpensive services, thus meting out appears to be a burgeoning trend against some of that same power. We therefore such passive “participation” through the have an opportunity to produce a wholly active use of the resources that are avail- new, decentralized culture in our own able to us. We wish to provide a context for homes, not subject to the pronouncements like-minded individuals, collectives, and or- of a New York or a Hollywood. This power ganizations to share views and present work. has barely begun to be tapped. With that in mind, feel free to submit any We try to seek out and display the works and all written or graphic work that you being made by such activity. The contents think fits these criteria. No submissions will of the Drawing Legion Publications have be returned unless they are accompanied included essays and reports from people by a self-addressed stamped envelope. All who work at the edges of culture, as well as contributors receive a copy of any such news, commentary and expository issues publication in which their work appears.