Yahoo - September 1, 1998 http://features.yahoo.com/sonicnet/storyid/19980901103.html SonicNet Daily Music News Reports: Experimental musicians Negativland have encountered more roadblocks in their efforts to get their latest sample-laden CD distributed, according to Negativland co-leader Mark Hosler. Four more pressing plants refused to manufacture Over The Edge Volume 3 -- The Weatherman's Dumb Stupid Come-Out Line, originally slated for release Aug. 17, Hosler said. The subsequent rejections come in the wake of the Plano, Texas-based Disctronics company turning the project down. Disctronics -- which Hosler said has pressed Negativland's previous illegally sampled albums -- was just doing the proper thing, based on federal laws against manufacturing albums which might contain unauthorized sound clips, said the company's vice president of operations, David Williamson. Meanwhile, Hosler stepped up his war of words with the Recording Industry Association of America, the organization which holds manufacturers liable for reproduction of unlicensed material. Although Hosler claimed that Disctronics had been Negativland's pressing plant of choice for the past four years, Williamson said he could not recall if any Negativland CDs had been pressed at his plant. "We follow the good business-practices guidelines for every order we process," Williamson explained, when asked why his plant refused to press Negativland's latest effort. Like much of the group's work, the CD in question features unlicensed samples -- in this case, snatches of music from Pink Floyd and the Village People. Williamson said his 12-year-old plant has always followed the rules put forth by the R.I.A.A. Earlier this month, Hosler said that the refusal by Disctronics to press the CD for the band's own Seeland label led to a situation whereby Negativland may not be able to find any plant in the U.S. willing to reproduce their CDs. The members of the ensemble, known for daring social commentary and the unorthodox use of unlicensed sound samples, claimed in a press statement that "recent threats by the R.I.A.A. have intimidated our CD-pressing plant into refusing to press the new Negativland CD." In a statement dated Aug. 20, R.I.A.A. president and CEO Hilary Rosen labeled the concerns raised by Negativland about the R.I.A.A. as "misplaced." "The R.I.A.A. has had absolutely no involvement with Negativland or its new release Over The Edge Volume 3. It has neither seen, heard, nor been consulted about the release," Rosen said in the release. Rosen continued by saying that, as part of her organization's long-standing efforts to combat piracy, the R.I.A.A. has developed a set of voluntary guidelines for CD plants. She also pointed out that, under U.S. copyright law, if a CD plant presses an infringing disc, it is liable for any copyright infringement. "The voluntary guidelines suggest procedures CD plants can follow to minimize their legal exposure," Rosen explained. "Those guidelines do not mention or make any recommendations about the use of samples in sound recordings." Hosler reacted to Rosen's statement with a statement of his own, in which he questioned whether, like President Clinton's testimony on allegations that he had "sexual relations" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, Rosen's response to the Negativland pressing-plant issue was merely "legally accurate." "We would characterize your statement as another stunning example of the self-serving deflection techniques now so prevalent among governments and corporations alike when dealing with 'the people,' " Hosler wrote. Negativland, headed by Hosler and his partner Don Joyce, say that they don't consider themselves pirates nor do they consider their actions illegal. The musicians have long flaunted their unlicensed sampling of material under the guise of "fair use." But they have run afoul of the recording industry in the past on copyright issues. The biggest flap was caused by their 1991 EP, U2 -- named after the popular Irish rock quartet -- which featured a parody of U2's song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," as well as outtakes from top-40 radio countdown host Casey Kasem. U2's label, Island, and the band's publishers brought suit against Negativland and their label, SST. The EP was eventually recalled and destroyed. Several days after Hosler's statement to the R.I.A.A., he lamented that Negativland were finding it difficult to get the new CD pressed. Part of the problem, according to Hosler, is that Negativland have been up-front with plants about their lack of official documentation for the purloined samples. "Someone recommended a small plant to us that's more under the radar," Hosler said. "But, ultimately, even if we get this [CD] made -- and there's a good chance of that -- the question is, what will happen over the next few years? "[Rosen's] press release made it clear that not all pressing plants are [following the R.I.A.A.'s voluntary guidelines], but it's a really ominous sign that the R.I.A.A. is putting ... manufacturers in a place where they're policing what is and is not legal." While voluntary, the guidelines appear to have struck a chord with manufacturers, some of whom expressed their dismay with having to screen all the material they press. "We try to listen to the material when we get it in and, from there, we make a decision as to whether or not there's anything suspicious," said Mark Stewart, president of the Los Angeles-based CD manufacturer U.S. Media. Stewart, whose 2-year-old plant services many independent labels, said he forwards any copyright-related paperwork given to him to the R.I.A.A. to verify the validity of an artist's copyright claims. But even that is not foolproof. "We had a case a while ago where someone gave us paperwork and it was false," Stewart said. Labeling the act of reviewing all the material as "burdensome," Stewart said a small company such as his, which receives five to 10 orders a day, can only realistically hope to catch the most blatant samples or re-appropriated copywritten material. "That's five to 10 hours of listening a day and the question is, does the person listening even know if the sample or whatever is legit?" Stewart said. "There's so much music out there."