{"id":345,"date":"2017-10-01T11:49:10","date_gmt":"2017-10-01T11:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armando.info\/?p=345"},"modified":"2017-10-01T11:49:10","modified_gmt":"2017-10-01T11:49:10","slug":"music-piracy-reaches-the-on-line-record-stores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armando.info\/en\/music-piracy-reaches-the-on-line-record-stores\/","title":{"rendered":"Music piracy reaches the on-line record stores"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It's \r\ncalled Mundo Digital USA<\/I>. \r\nIt has taken over much \r\nof the catalogs of the Venezuelan record labels Sonografica, Velvet, El Palacio de la \r\nMusica<\/I> and the ones that disappeared like Sonorodven<\/I>, who had in their portfolios \r\nthe best singers of the local scene of the Eighties, and distributes through \r\nonline stores, against the will of their heirs, the songs of Simon Diaz, the \r\nmost emblematic of the folklorists. The story is a sum of carelessness, mistakes \r\nand, to say of those affected, a blatant robbery of the collection of pop \r\ncreated in Venezuela three decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

Those affected say that \r\n70 percent of the collection of Venezuelan music is in the hands of impostors. \r\nThat is, about 1,500 albums are available to Mundo Digital USA<\/I>. If each one contains \r\n10 songs, it reaches a figure of 15,000 pieces. If each one, which costs almost \r\na dollar, is downloaded ten times, it would be about $150,000 per month that are \r\nin the hands other than its real owners. The figure is a twist in the eternal \r\nconflict between producing houses and artists. Composers and singers are even \r\nmore unprotected because they are not getting anything for their creations. And \r\nhow was it possible that the catalogs changed hands without their original \r\nowners knowing?<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

In these lines lies a \r\npossible explanation:<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

Track 1: Sonografica<\/h2>\n\n\n

<\/B><\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

It is perhaps the most \r\nhorrible story. The musical wing of Grupo \r\n1BC<\/I>, owner of the late television station Radio Caracas Television<\/I> and of the \r\nradio station 92.9 FM<\/I>, both closed by \r\nthe Chavez regime, took many years to understand that the digital format was the \r\nfuture of the business. Compact discs and vinyls are sold less each month \r\nbecause music, whether pirated or not, is within reach of iTunes, Spotify, \r\nAmazon, Deezer or Pandora.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

In April 2016 the entire catalog of Sonografica, about 4,400 titles and more than 100 artists, was available for the first time online<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n

It took Sonografica<\/I> a year to recover its entire \r\ncatalog and the covers of those records. In some cases they redesigned the \r\ncovers. They also hired foreign individuals and companies who digitized their \r\nproducts and loaded them onto a special platform. In all that time they talked \r\nto The Ochard, one of the main distributors or music aggregators and digital \r\ncontent in the world. On April 29, 2016, the entire catalog of Sonografica<\/I>, about 4,400 titles and more \r\nthan 100 artists, was available for the first time online, anywhere in the world \r\nwhere the internet allowed to click play<\/I> to a song and buy it for $0.99 or \r\nbuy the entire album for $10.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

It was not anything. It \r\nwas all the titles of its archives, from the catalog inherited from the company \r\nPolydor de Venezuela<\/I> (created in the \r\n60's of the last century) - with which Sonografica<\/I> was born in 1982 - plus \r\neverything produced during the 1980s, when a decree by the then-President Luis \r\nHerrera Campins, known as \"one for one\", made it compulsory for radio stations \r\nto broadcast a theme by a national artist for each international artist who was \r\nplayed in their programs. <\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

The drive it gave to \r\nthe national record industry and Venezuelan artists was unprecedented. Sonografica<\/I> became the main rival of Sonorodven<\/I>, also born in the 80\u2019s, which \r\nbelonged to the Grupo Cisneros<\/I>, \r\nowners of the TV channel Venevision<\/I>. \r\nThe compulsory \"one for one\" witnessed the emergence of talents such as Ricardo \r\nMontaner, Karina, Melissa, Yordano, Ilan Chester, Franco De Vita, Rudy La Scala, \r\nColina, Guillermo Davila and others who joined the music scene where already \r\nimportant voices resonated.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

The joy of being in the \r\ntop online stores was short lived. Twelve days after that April 29, 2016, Sonografica<\/I> began to see its duplicate \r\ncatalog in every online store. Not only were the titles repeated (some \r\nidentified with the copyright of Sonografica<\/I> and others with the \r\ncopyright of the company Mundo Digital \r\nUSA<\/I>), but names of albums copied on different covers, compilations never \r\nmade by this record label and supposed new albums that mixed themes of rival \r\nrecord labels.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

It happened, for \r\nexample, with the  \"The Halley \r\nGeneration\" record plate, the soundtrack of the film by the same name directed \r\nby Thaelman Urguelles, success of Sonorodven<\/I> in the 80\u2019s that was \r\nversioned by Mundo Digital USA<\/I> under \r\nthe name of \"The Halley Degeneration\", mixing songs by Sonorodven<\/I> and Sonografica<\/I>. All a nonsense that ignores \r\nthe disputes that the companies had at the time. \"We could never reach an \r\nagreement to make a record together, and these people have done it,\" says Luisa \r\nElena Flores, in charge of the digital management of the Sonografica<\/I> \r\ncatalog.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

They also placed in the \r\ndigital stores the first two albums sung in English by Rudy La Scala when he \r\narrived in Venezuela. Only the artist knew that they existed because it never \r\nbecame part of the catalog of Polydor<\/I> \r\nacquired by Sonografica<\/I>, and they did \r\nthe same with two albums of Kiko \r\nBotones<\/I>, a character incarnated by the Mexican Carlos Villagran, member of \r\nthe cast of El chavo del 8<\/I>, when the \r\nartist recorded a series in Radio Caracas \r\nTelevision<\/I>.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/B><\/p>\n\n\n

\"That person seems like he was waiting for Sonografica to leave for him to come out...\"<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n

The finding of the \r\ncopied titles makes the Sonografica<\/I> \r\nteam think that behind Mundo Digital \r\nUSA<\/I> there is a collector and knower of the Venezuelan record industry, \r\nbecause they have titles as unknown as valuable, including record plates that \r\nwere believed to be lost because in the process of digitalization of the content \r\nthe master tape of the recording was never found. \"That person was waiting for \r\nSonografica to leave for him to come out, so that he would be like the curtain \r\nthat would cover the rest of the catalogs. It\u2019s not only mine, there are many. \r\nVirtually 70% of the Venezuelan catalog has been uploaded by them\", says Sonografica's<\/I> \r\nrepresentative.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

Upon hearing the \r\ncomplaint, The Orchard connected Sonografica<\/I> with the distributor who \r\nsent them the catalog attributed to Mundo \r\nDigital<\/I>. From there onward the mailings and calls began, which resulted in \r\nnothing. Not even the value of copyright has been considered 16 months \r\nlater.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

Some singers and \r\ncomposers began to realize almost by chance. Among them is Rudy La Scala, who \r\nhas not changed record label in spite of living in Los Angeles, and today \r\nappears as the artist that generates more profits for Sonografica<\/I>. But others are not aware. \r\nThere are more than 100 artists and contracts dating back to the Polydor<\/I> era, so there is easily more \r\nthan one who ignores it. In this other group is Oscar de Jesus Colina, the \r\nirreverent singer of the 80\u2019s that established a milestone in musical aesthetics \r\nand video clips, and embraced success in that decade to then hit rock \r\nbottom.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

\"I'm learning this \r\nthanks to you, from this call,\" he answers on the other side of the phone. \u201cI \r\nknow Amazon sells several of my songs, I thought Sonografica<\/I> was doing it. I knew nothing \r\nof this. I have not received anything from Amazon \r\neither.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

Track 2: Simon D\u00edaz<\/h2>\n\n\n

It is not difficult to \r\nfind the name of Mundo Digital USA<\/I> in \r\nAmazon and other online stores, each album includes data from the company that \r\nedited the product, including one important detail: copyright. The copyright \r\nindicates the year of the first publication and the name of the producer or \r\nowner of that recording. While the original titles of Sonografica<\/I> are published with the \r\ncopyright \"Distribuidora \r\nSonografica\"<\/I>, and the year in which it was effectively released for the \r\nfirst time (between the 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s), the titles copied by Mundo Digital<\/I> are copyright 2016 or \r\n2017.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/p>\n\n