DVD info page on Room With A Moose which includes an excellent surprised letter from Jhonen about the release...
On the subject off unaltered episodes being seen instead of altered ones, I hope you will all contact the people behind the dvd's and scream at them to use the original version of the Christmas episode (the most horrible christmas ever), and not the screwy edited version that was shown on the telly. The altered version changed some voices, killed some pretty cool okes, and added "nice" music where there was supposed to be some ridiculous metal guitars over ZIM talking like a pro-wrestler. This was done by trained professionals who were not me.
There are rumours of interviews/comentaries with Jhonen et al...
Prices for double disc sets (there will be three, then the full boxset of everything) is estimated at US$29.95 ("but could go lower").
It's so good to see a fan doing this...
I already asked for it. I asked for EVERYTHING!!! Animatics, audio only episodes, Interviews, TV Spots.. you name it I've put in for it. Nick is currently hunting down all the stuff for us. Once I have more details I'll let you know.
Discogs.com is identical to an idea I had a while back [and here], kind of a CDDB but with more user input:
We're on a mission to build the biggest and most comprehensive electronic music database. Imagine a site with discographies of all labels, all artists, all cross-referenced. It's getting closer every day.
Although for some reason they're only taking "electronic" music. Seems a waste to restrict yourself so much.
No The Sharp archives at Triple R either...
Previously I've limited myself to emailing the Triple J radio station. I'm always met with a polite "sorry, we do not own the copyrights for these recordings. You will need to speak with the band or their record company in regards to getting a copy". That is fairly obvious and I thank them for their polite reply.
Yesterday I decided to make it my mission to find copies of the two The Sharp Live At The Wireless recordings from 1992 and 1993.
Not only am I interested in listening to these recordings, but I'm also fascinated by the fact that a recording that is only 10 years old could very easily disappear. The old members of The Sharp are no longer interested in their music and are prooving impossible to contact (and who can blame them, these recordings were over ten years ago). My guess is, that if no-one out there has this recording it could disappear forever.
This is what I mean when I say I'm interested in "recent history". Is there a better term for my hobby? Archivist? Archivophile?
So yesterday I went in the back way. I contacted ABC's Content Sales department via the FAQ seemed to indicate it might be possible to purchase radio archive material from the ABC. It would be very expensive (paying for researchers to find the material you wanted AND research any copyright required), but I'm getting serious here...
They have very quickly replied today (huge thanks for that) with a similar answer to Triple J Radio. They don't own the copyright for these recordings and so it would be illegal to sell them (but not to archive them it seems)...
My sales person has forwarded my request through the system to see how far it can get.
Update: I've recieved my reply within two working hours of the request. Good work. ABC has broadcast rights only for this material and cannot sell it. This includes items on the Rage music program.
Fair enough... and it all makes sense really. But I can't help but think there is a big piece of the process missing.
A few people I've talked to about this have shaken their heads in a "duh" kind of way. My reply is... OK, so how do I get copies of this material? "Find someone who taped it at the time!" they say. But that's illegal and often impossible. "Get Triple J or Rage to repeat the program and tape it". Again... illegal and the likelyhood of Triple J replaying a The Sharp program is zero. What if I want to do it properly? Legally. Give the members of The Sharp some cash for their trouble? "You can't".
So there is a huge piece of history of one of my favourite bands I know exists somewhere and it's impossible to get hold of? Not acceptable.
It occurs to me how insanely stalkerfanboy this all is, but it's not just about The Sharp. It's about Faith No More, The Truth, Caligula, Cartoon, Supergroove and a million other bands I'm interested in buying the Live At The Wireless recording for.
So now I'm writing/calling Warner Bros Music Australia, owner of The Sharp's label, East West. I'm told by those in the business trying to talk to music labels about anything not on their current agenda is useless, but as I said... I'm serious here.
I can't think of a single copyright related thing that annoys me more than the thought of so much material rotting away in archives because "no-one is interested in commercialising it". I'm sick of music not being available because it won't make X amount of money so why bother.
Digital distribution should have solved this by now.
A question to get you thinking... how many of the CDs in your collection are "deleted". That is, the record company has removed the CD from sale/production and never plans to release it again. That is... the music is gone... forever.
Update 2: Just received a message back from radio station Triple M saying that they'd love to help but they have nothing in their archives on The Sharp. This band was very popular at the time and did appear on Triple M, so we can only assume they didn't bother archiving it. My point exactly...