Paul Estin's personal copying and copyright policy


My CD mixes are composed of copyrighted material.  Anecdotally, it seems
that I am doing a service to the musicians by publicizing their existence
and their work-- many friends have gone to concerts of groups they
otherwise wouldn't have known about, bought their CDs, etc.  
Nevertheless, there is the question of whether I am violating copyright
law.

The official position of the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) is that I'm infringing copyright.  Of course, their official
position is that I'm infringing copyright that moment I copy music from a
CD onto my hard drive.  As it happens, I think the RIAA ought to be
spending less effort on zero tolerance and using litigation to prop up
their doomed monopoly system of distribution ("We're suing Napster,
mp3.com, and everybody else!") and more effort on developing a sensible
system that meets the needs of their customers (to sample music, to buy
a single without spending $18 for an entire album of filler, etc.)

However...

The Audio Home Recording Act seems to suggest that all "noncommercial use"
is shielded from copyright infringement litigation.  (It may still be
copyright infringement, that is, but it's shielded from litigation.)
Partly for this reason, and partly because I would feel ethically
uncomfortable doing otherwise, I do not charge for my CD mixes.  On
occasions when I am making multiple CDs for a friend, I will ask, as a
favor, to be paid back for the materials-- blank CD-Rs, paper, and printer
supplies-- plus any postage.  But that's it.  Maybe next time I'll pick a
hobby on which it's actually legal to make a profit. :-)

Additionally, I'll provide a few sample mp3s on my site.  However, as soon
as I find that many people are downloading a particular track-- especially
if they're doing so entering directly at the file level and (presumably)
ignoring the rest of my web pages-- I take the track offline, because it's
not being used in the limited fashion I had intended.  (Besides, it makes
the owner of my web server understandably unhappy.)  If an artist were to
request I take their mp3 offline, I'd be happy to oblige them, too.

I'm hesitant to provide copies of CD mixes for anyone I don't already
know, but if you have a special request and are willing to pay the
postage, I may oblige.

That's about it.  Enjoy the music.