Paul Haig - "Reason"

Download: Paul Haig - "Reason"

I got a notice from Tarty Tart after she saw that Blogger took down my Elbo.ws post about how, today, April 6th, would be Paul Haig day. Why a specific day devoted to this specific songwriter?

Behold:

Bloggers have come under increasing attack in recent times, thanks to many in the music industry using the draconian measures of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), an American piece of legislation signed by President Clinton in 1998 which insists that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) must remove material that appears to constitute copyright infringement.

So, if a music industry lawyer discovers a blogger has posted an mp3 of a song without permission, they can contact the ISP, claim they represent the individual or organisation with the copyright and demand the offending material be removed. Fair enough you might say…

But, the law is such that anyone can use DMCA to demand a takedown without having to prove that they have ownership of the copyright, and the ISP have no option but to comply - it has even been proven that where musicians have expressly given support for their song to be highlighted on a blog, an anonymous DMCA request has seen the mp3 removed.

Such was the case last month when ‘The Vinyl Villain’ blog, one that has been running since September 2006 and almost exclusively looks back to music of the 80s and 90s, featured ‘Blue For You’, one of the early solo singles by Paul Haig. The blogger had been in touch with the singer who didn’t object at all to featuring the song and was given a few words by Paul Haig to add to the story behind its recording in Edinburgh back in 1982.

Within 48 hours of publication, the piece was removed by the ISP, although no-one associated with the copyright had made such a request.

In response, Paul Haig immediately decided to make his 2007 single ‘Reason’ available through ‘The Vinyl Villain’ blog on the basis that music fans who downloaded the song and decided that they liked it were more than likely to subsequently purchase a copy. So far, after just more than a week, no-one has asked the ISP to remove the mp3….

And so, in response, U.K. bloggers, and those across the pond, have decided to all post "Reason" in solidarity. To read a great, in-depth summation of Paul Haig's career, check out this post over at The Vinyl Villian. Additionally, take a listen to "Reason" at the top of the post.

Paul Haig MySpace Page