The Stories We Say

by **Vienna** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 3:00 am

[revised 5/27/2010]

Hi everyone -

First of all, it means a lot that you're interested in recording these shows! Thanks for supporting and caring about live music.

This policy has been evolving over the past several years, and you've all been great about honoring my (and my fellow musicians') wishes and wanting to know what the rules are. Thanks so much for treating us like artists and human beings, rather than mere objects to be documented...

So here's the deal.

Taping live shows:

1. If everyone else involved is OK with it, both audio and video taping is fine. If the venue staff says it's up to the artist, by all means go for it. If they want my verbal or written permission, I'm happy to give it. Note that certain venues, particularly those in the performing arts world, always prohibit taping. Sometimes the promoter/agency/label/etc doesn't want the show taped for various reasons, and we need to adhere to their policy.

2. Board feeds are permitted, at the discretion of the venue and sound engineer. Please be nice to the engineer, and be respectful of his/her priorities. In all likelihood there's already a lot to deal with, in order for the show to run on time and sound as good as possible in the room. Setting up a board feed and getting a level check for you may not always be possible.

Sharing audio/video of SOLO shows:

No permission required, but please abide by the following:

1. No money can be exchanged for it. This is probably obvious, but don't charge anyone for recordings. If you discover anyone trying to do this, please let us know. For traditional, through-the-mail trading, see etree.org's B&P page for an FAQ.

2. Don't distribute an original song until it appears on a studio recording, unless I've put it on the OK to distribute list. I know this can be frustrating, but please respect it. I'm shy about having non-studio recordings of a song circulating out there as the only representation of what it sounds like. Once it's been officially released, you're more than welcome to share the live versions.

Here's the list of original songs that aren't on an album but are OK to tape and distribute:
http://viennateng.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=655.

3. Credit the songwriters of covers. If people want to hear the original or learn more about the people who wrote it, please make it easy for them to track down the information. (Seems like everyone's been doing this faithfully. Many thanks!)

4. Take it offline if I ask. So far I've never asked, but if a show goes horribly wrong sometime, or for personal reasons I'm uncomfortable having it out there, please respect my wishes and remove it. I don't foresee ever doing this—the web already has plenty of me singing off-key, forgetting lyrics, saying dumb stuff between songs and so on—but it's important for me to have the option.

Sharing audio/video of ENSEMBLE shows:
(includes duo with Alex Wong, trio with Ward Williams, and other configurations)

1. The above rules still apply: only if the venue allows taping, share only songs that are on studio recordings, covers, or on the approved list, etc.

2. Get written permission to distribute audio recordings. You're welcome to tape shows for private use, but send an email to michele@viennateng.com and get the go-ahead before sharing it with friends or uploading it anywhere. Note that once a while we may not grant permission—but usually we do.

Video recordings are OK to share without prior permission. Audio recordings that are already available can stay up. (No need to go vigilante on anyone retroactively.)

Thanks for reading, and happy taping!

- VT

by **tim** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 4:29 am

Thanks for the clarification, Vienna :-)

And thanks for taking the time to respond to our queries!

by **Klaorman** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 7:09 pm

Wow! Vienna addressed me personally! Pardon me while I swoon... :rolleyes:
.
.
.
Ok, I'm back!

Thanks for clearing things up, Vienna. I'm not sure if I'll have time to post my live versions because my baby is going to say "Hello, World!" (programmer joke) any day now and I've been extremely busy getting ready. But it looks like Michele will be taking over the job since she has recordings also. As mentioned previously, I'm also in need of webspace since my email account only has 10MB. Eric said he might be able to set aside some space here for the recordings. Will that be a reality, Eric?

Klaorman

by **Naomi** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 7:01 pm

:::delurks for a moment:::

Klaorman, I have a ton of webspace (~100MB) on my university account if you'd like me to upload some stuff up for download.

Just let me know!

Naomi

by **Klaorman** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 7:10 pm

Thanks, Naomi! I haven't converted any of my recordings to mp3 yet, but when I do, I'll let you know.

Klaorman

by **xfan1013** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 8:20 pm

Well, I finally registered...I was going to post my e-mail address on here, but decided against it (I have WAY too much spam already).

Anyways, great! Just e-mail me when you need the space!

Naomi

by **Eric** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 10:48 pm

Oh foo. Yeah, I forgot to get back to you on this, K. Yeah, I think the main problem is not so much storage space on our end as much as bandwidth. We already push the limits of our account and have to pay overage charges every now and then just for the four main mp3s we've got posted right now. They're popular! (And hopefully folks download them once and play from their computer rather than stream them every time they want to hear them ... *ahem* :ph34r: )

So if Naomi can lend you space, that's awesome. Thanks, Naomi!

by **syclick** » Sat Jul 26, 2003 7:55 am

If it'll help, I've got some webspace (~200MB) to lend as well.

by **angryj5** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 3:57 am

i think i have the solution for the live audio distribution...well 3 solutions, bittorrents and DC++, live music archive

bit torrents are distributed bandwidth file transfers, theyre used heavily by other live bootlegger tapers, <a href='http://www.sharingthegroove.com' target='_blank'>www.sharingthegroove.com</a> <a href='http://bt.etree.org' target='_blank'>bt.etree.org</a>

direct connect (DC/DC++) is also used a lot, <a href='http://www.bootlegarchive.com' target='_blank'>www.bootlegarchive.com</a> is one of the big hubs with a website <a href='http://livegarbage.dyndns.org' target='_blank'>livegarbage.dyndns.org</a> etc

and third whichis probably the best in the long run, and since they have fast servers, is the internet archive's and etree's live music archive...<a href='http://www.archive.org' target='_blank'>www.archive.org</a>...<a href='http://www.etree.org' target='_blank'>www.etree.org</a>...its basically a library of live bootlegs by taper-friendly bands who want to preserve their sound and give their live music to fans for free....more details here: <a href='http://archive.org/audio/etree.php' target='_blank'>http://archive.org/audio/etree.php</a>

all three of these more or less require that lossless audio (non-mp3) be used, to keep the high quality of recordings from dropping to nothing. there is quite a bit of information about why bootleg tapers/traders use SHN and FLAC and other lossless audio file formats at the etree site along with all the software to use them. so while it may seem like a pain in the ass to start using these if youre used to using mp3s, its rather essential to use these and to be recognized by others as knowing what youre doing with live shows, very few people will trade with mp3s.

by **Mike** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 6:48 am

Dear Vienna (or whoever else can help),

I have missed three opportunities to make a recording of your concerts, and I cannot bear to let your next visit to Michigan pass me by. I am planning to buy a pro audio recorder solely to record your performance, and I want to make sure I am using my student loan money wisely. Do you still allow recording at live performances?

I will most definitely keep the recording for my own enjoyment (although crying when I listen to Homecoming is an enjoyment of a quite different sort). I wouldn't dream of reducing the quality to that of an mp3, and I have far more respect for you than to distribute anything I record, even released songs.

Thank you for sharing yourself and your music with us,
Mike

by **Sam** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 11:23 am

HI, all.
i love Vienna's song, and i have just registered in . If there're anything i can help, let me know! I can help to promote Vienna in China(PRC) now that i am living in China now. She is great talented! I believe in that!

by **angryj5** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 7:05 pm

Mike wrote: Dear Vienna (or whoever else can help),

I have missed three opportunities to make a recording of your concerts, and I cannot bear to let your next visit to Michigan pass me by. I am planning to buy a pro audio recorder solely to record your performance, and I want to make sure I am using my student loan money wisely. Do you still allow recording at live performances?

I will most definitely keep the recording for my own enjoyment (although crying when I listen to Homecoming is an enjoyment of a quite different sort). I wouldn't dream of reducing the quality to that of an mp3, and I have far more respect for you than to distribute anything I record, even released songs.

Thank you for sharing yourself and your music with us,
Mike

nothing wrong with distributing, as long as its not for profit and you have permission from the artists

by **ben** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 10:14 am

Ah guys, I'm really dying to own a live CD of one of VT's gigs. But since her performing where I lived is quite a long shot, I'd really appreciate it if some kind soul here would send me a copy. And since that would mean that you would be spending for the shipping, and VT said no money should be involved in this kind of distribution, I can send you a copy of the Asian Edition of Waking Hour CD (or WS, should you prefer) or probably cassette tapes (yes, we still have plenty of cassette tapes this side of the world <_< ) in exchange for your trouble.

That is if VT have no objection.

by **AlphaQuam** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 3:29 pm

Does anyone have any information on the taping policy for the Modern Troubadours tour? I know that Vienna allows taping (of course) but Teitur does not. I have not found any information on the other two artists.

Thanks.

by **angryj5** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 12:10 am

ben and abra are both open taping, distribution is still undecided, and since teitur is non-taping, most likely the modern troubadours wont allow it either :unsure:

The Stories We Say

live show taping policy

live show taping policy

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