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The rainbow that doesn’t rise
A report appeared on BraveWords today titled “Iranian Rockers Stopped From Paying Tribute To Rainbow Rising Anniversary” (it is 40th anniversary, by the way). So what, I thought — people living under a theocratic regime are having a hard time with their hard rock. Move along, nothing to see there. But the story was with a twist. Turns out, evil ayatollahs have absolutely nothing to do with it.
Five Iranian rockers joined forces with local journalist and producer Mohsen “Stargazer” Fayazi. They decided to pay tribute to the landmark album and put their version of Stargazer on Youtube. Most people would just do it, but they wanted to do the right thing(tm) and obtain a proper permission, so they have contacted Blackmore’s agent.
Fayazi tells the story from here:
From the very beginning, our goal was to show respect and love to everyone who was a part of that magical record. It was not as simple as I thought. I really had no clue that the copyright of the first two albums by Rainbow does not belong to them anymore. I had to discuss and explain our situation for a few publishing companies and every time a new company approached me, I had to explain it from the beginning.
I think they were a little bit confused, which I don’t blame them for, I am sure it was their first time to receive an email from someone in Iran asking for permission like this. I should mention they were all nice, kind and helpful during the discussion. But after about many emails back and forth, I received the news that the right holders rejected our request, but may consider it if we paid a license fee, though still no guarantee. There is no chance for us to pay any fee as earning money from this was never our plan, we were not selling a recording. Also, due to sanctions, no foreign banks currently work with Iran, so transferring money is impossible.
Are all corporations inherently sociopathic?
It is also kind of a sad anniversary when you start to think that 3/5 of that band — Cozy Powell, Ronnie James Dio and Jimmy Bain — are no longer with us.
Thanks to BraveWords for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Great story, with a predictable ending. Artistic rights are vital to the creation of cool music. This Nuremburg concert is tremendous. Sorry to the chaps in Iran, but if the owners of the rights won’t play ball….
May 17th, 2016 at 22:02The “right thing” was just record some excellent (not less) live performance and post on Youtube, and wait and see if companies ask to delete the videos. There are a lot of tribute videos still online, so I think those requests for deletion are just for the original recordings.
May 17th, 2016 at 22:29John Oliver would love this one…
May 18th, 2016 at 03:19They should go ahead and do it anyway…..try suing someone in Iran and see how far you get!!
May 18th, 2016 at 04:40Yeah – very sadly – that our money reality …
(But only one question: Who IS the owner of the rights now ???
LLRnR
LLRitchie
kraatzy
May 18th, 2016 at 07:19Acrassicauda left Iraq for Syria and then on to NY. I kickstarted their album.
May 18th, 2016 at 08:32Money, money, money, must be funny, in a rich man’s world…..
May 18th, 2016 at 09:45Too bad, as epos” Stargazer” not the original live album “On Stage”
Ritchiev guitar riff inspired by Michael Schenker
May 18th, 2016 at 19:01https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XafZ9OYGMYA
Et vive la laïque!
May 19th, 2016 at 06:08@8 Ritchie is my fave guitarist, Schenker my second so defense of RB is warranted. I love Obsession! My fave UFO record…but sorry, ‘Stargazer’ came out in 1976, ”Pack It Up and Go’ is from two years later in 1978. Love both tunes BTW, maybe Michael copied RB, not the other way around!
May 19th, 2016 at 17:29Take notice falks….Rainbow was never a one man show and it’s not a solo band!! Have and show respect to the musisions who made it happen. Unless you think Steve Morse is DP!!!
May 19th, 2016 at 19:15Go on! record your tribute ASAP please!..don’t follow that crap, you are a tribute band in Iran- no one can harm you. more than proud already.
May 20th, 2016 at 17:44@8, Ivica – impossible. Rainbow Rising was released in 1976, a full two years before UFO’s Obession album. No way that tune had any impact on Blackmore. If anything, you have it backwards.
May 20th, 2016 at 22:33Dio did some great work with Black Sabbath as well – technically a far better vocalist than Ozzy.
May 21st, 2016 at 06:47@ 10 @ 13
ooo
yes of course
my written error …replacement
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June 1st, 2016 at 16:16