An issue in the piracy debate, which is not often brought up, is that of rare or unusual material. While most would agree that taking a newly produced commercial music cd and sharing it online is at least questionable behaviour. To those who understand both the letter and the spirit of the law would say that it was illegal. Albeit that there remain some who argue that the law should permit this behaviour under certain circumstances.
But what about material which is not commercially viable? What about material which larger corporations ignore simply because they deem it to be uninteresting? Sometimes the pro-piracy debaters (for example Rasmus Fleischer) argue that file sharers fill an important cultural gap by ensuring that rare materials are provided rather than disappearing altogether.
The Australian fan site ABBAMAIL is for the true fans of the Swedish group. Most real fans are (slightly) obsessive (I think this is a requirement for fandom?) and collect all the products which their idols have produced. In addition to this most fans are also interested in collecting the rarities that are not officially released â?? the bootlegs.
The Sidney Morning Herald writes that ABBAMAIL:
Until recently, the site also sold bootleg CDs and DVDs containing old recordings of ABBA performances, radio and TV appearances that were otherwise unavailable.
Titles included “Memories that remain”, “1979 Australian Radio interview”, “An Australian love affair” and “Dick Cavett meets ABBA”.
The owner of the rights to ABBAâ??s music (Universal) has threatened ABBAMAIL with legal action unless it not only stops selling the bootlegs but also hands over the details of fans who allegedly bought or supplied unauthorised or “bootlegged” live recordings via the site. Read more about this on the protest site started by the founders of ABBAMAIL www.universalgreed.com.
The question at stake here is not who is legally right. This is not argued. The question is whether there should be a right to provide material which is not being disseminated (for a whole range of reasons). The Swedish television and radio archives are a treasure of material but the organisations do not dare release the material for fear that the â??ownerâ?? may claim economic compensation â?? the result is that the cultural treasure is slowly being forgotten. This is not the point of copyright law.