CALLERLAB VIEWPOINTS

“Music Ethics”

CALLERLAB has, what I would call, a “Member Emeritus”. His name is Bill Heyman. His contribution to the square dance activity and to CALLERLAB earned him a Milestone Award, and most recently a Gold Card (life membership) in our organization. Bill and Peggy are rightfully taking more family time these days, but Bill’s call to action still resonates in CALLERLAB and to callers that have been around long enough to see the amount of well-produced music for our dancers dwindle to a trickle. Good record producers have been losing money on their music for years, and although several companies are still using live musicians and have attempted to weather the storm with yearly music membership programs, it is clear that decreasing quality and quantity in our music affects the quality of our calling, our dancing, and the numbers in our activity.

After talking publically for more than 15 years on the subject of “illegal copying” of music, Bill wrote a very candid article which in the very beginning said, “My comments are intended to inform, not offend, and certainly not to accuse.” His article explained that, “Buying square dance music is really buying a “single user license”; very similar to what happens when you purchase computer software.” He went on to say that, “Whether you buy Vinyl, CDs, or MP3s, you are effectively buying a ‘single user license’ to be used by you for your calling program. There is no problem if you make a back-up copy for your music archive and also no problem if you want to create multiple versions with different keys, with harmonies, or with instrumentation added by you.”

Bill summed it up like this, “Illegal copying begins when you give away or sell any of the above-mentioned copies, yet continue to use the music yourself.” As we have transitioned from vinyl records to CDs, Mini-discs, and MP3 computer files for organizing and playing our music, Bill explained, “It has become quite easy (read that as tempting) to copy music belonging to other callers without paying for it oneself.”

Bill’s comments were taken very seriously by the CALLERLAB Board of Governors and member callers, so a Music Ethics Committee was formed with Chairman, Paul Bristow and Vice Chairman, Wade Driver. The Committee had a proposed program to present at the 38th CALLERLAB Convention in Las Vegas, but wanted the input of the Executive Committee and the Board of Governors before presenting it to the membership. This proposal created some very good discussion involving callers from around the world, liaisons to the round dance community, and callers that are members of associations outside of CALLERLAB.

Final touches are being put on this initiative so that all dance callers, cuers, and prompters, can join in, no matter what organization or affiliation they are part of. It would be along the lines of a “Professional Guild”, with those joining this “Guild” agreeing to follow a set of guidelines. This essentially means that all the music they use has been paid for. They own the “single user license”, and they don’t share this license or music with anyone else.

In the Music Ethics Committee Report, Chairman Paul Bristow stated, “Until all callers have a firm grasp of what is right and what is wrong, they have no real guidelines to follow.” The Committee discussed the position that “ignorance of the rules is no excuse”, but in the end, wanted to remove any excuse by making everyone aware of the rules so that they can just follow those guidelines.

There was also discussion of making scripts available. The question had come up, “How do I answer the guy who says, “Hey! I like that music. Can you give me a copy of it on my flash drive?” It would be helpful to be able to handle those situations with dignity and tact.

There are many gray areas and scenarios that need to be considered and maybe even ones that haven’t been discovered yet. Task groups in the Music Ethics Committee have been working to finalize a list of “Do’s and Don’ts”, to make them easy to understand and that can be further amended when new scenarios surface.

There is not a practical way to take firm legal action on those that illegally share music. Yet creating a voluntary worldwide program where callers, cuers, and prompters will have the opportunity to be ethical and “do the right thing” in regards to the music they use, we will be able to get closer to solving the music piracy problem.

This “Professional Guild” would give to its members a “Premier Status” that would signify that each member is a team player, values the long-term interest of our dance activity, respects his fellow callers, cares about the future quality of our dance music and our dancers, and has the desire to do what is fair and right. Down the line, it could even become the reason a caller is asked to call for a club, festival, or record for a record company. 

I’m glad that CALLERLAB has once again taken the leadership role, been able to get the input from so many sources, and taken the time and interest to help solve a problem that, when you look at the big picture, has been hurting our activity for some time. I look forward to this initiative and to it being able to give us all the right guidelines to do what is honest and ethically right.

I hope to see you at the 39th CALLERLAB Convention in Nashville, Tennessee April 2-4, 2012.