IF, they provide it freely on their website a it usually will be free to distribute and used.
Very wrong assumption. There is the case of performance rights. Assuming that GT is the publisher, there is also another copyright owner(s), chances are that they will not allow for the files to be freely distributed - there is simplynothing in there for them. Same goes for GT. I am certain that the number of hits their site receives is very relevant to the advertising revenue on their site.
Taking away probable hits away from them is in essence taking away expected revenue from them - not a good thing if you were GT.
I am quite amused that IP knowledge is very lacking here at Soft - I see loads of users here with MySpace sites with cover songs - people that is blatant copyright infringement.
There is a Sticky thread at Soft that covers IP and copyright issues. I mean people, if you're into music as a musician, you have to appreciate other people'ss copyrights. Just because there are those that do their musical bits for free, doessn't mean that everyone doesn't deserve to earn a living from it.
I, myself, provide free files for download on one of my sites. BUT sharing is prohibited as any download has to be done via my site. Another way is to ensure that any sharing includes pertinent information as to where the original files came from and who created it.
Do take note that I myself uploaded the said file for Badger to use - so please don't take it that I'm some snob trying to be pedantic about the whole thing. I think what we did was a good thing, as a whole - a Soft Jam is always a good thing yah. But I just wished that GT and the rightful creators of the backing track received more credit than what was given to them while we were all at it.
Cheers
RoRK
