Post #476294 by Tom Slick on Mon, Aug 10, 2009 10:23 PM

Ok, I am torn between the above advertisement here(extinctattractions).
On one hand, David has put out quite a few interesting Disneyland Park related DVDs/documentaries, or so I've heard.
But on the other hand, alot if not most of his music CDs were apparently "borrowed"(me being P.C.) without any credit given to the original people who took the time to "up" the music into digitized mp3 formats, such as past employees of Disney and other "sound geeks" in general, who wanted to share the obscure/lost/obsolete soundtracks.

For a quick example, the Lanai background music loop played in the 1960s and throughout the mid 1970s in Adventureland. Disneyland's Adventureland had loops of music that included some original exotica tracks composed by the Disney Music Department as well as actual Martin Denny and other famous exotica greats and rotated songs every so often. Now the filesharing people who obtained original playlists and actual reels of audio played throughout the park were doing it for the love and preservation of said music to others interested, and I'm sure it shouldn't have been much of a problem, as we will probably never hear Augie Colon or Arthur Lyman played in the Adventureland area ever again. Most of the music that was shared was from the Park's earliest years up to the 1980s.

The Disney ThemePark music group swapped files, and shared information about how the music was influential to the land it was played in, and indirectly drew a historic musical timeline. Main Street, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland etc..etc.. all had its own background music loops, and these guys knew their music, as well as what approximate years the playlists were played in each land. Pretty cool stuff to read about on the forum, as well!

Now, without getting into the "legalities" of whether or not the music uploaded/shared to the netgroup was alright with Disney, isn't as much an issue to me, as much as a person copying someone else's work and selling it for profit, without even a name/names credit given in the inside CD covers. Basically, it is like someone coming in here and copying an artists "signature" tiki carving or illustrated monkey, and then reselling it under another name or brand.

Tiki Central is not new to plagiarism, or even straight out copying or ripping off, and alot of threads on TC are about copying/ripping off art or art style. I have nothing personal against David, in fact I kind of applaud the historical angle of his business. BUT I do hold a brow lower, due to his business ethics, especially in the music/soundtrack area. Just because one groups sharings might be considered questionable, doesn't mean you should outright rip them off just because what they are doing might not exactly be legitimate. Bottom line is, David wouldn't have had most of the CD soundtracks he's acquired through open sharing, if it weren't for all of the people who took the time to digitize the music in the first place.

Which brings me to the closing of my long drawn out story. Alot of the people who started the Disney background music group no longer participate or share their files to anyone. The group might as well not exist. He burned some people and crushed some of the people's spirits in the wake of his leeching of the music files, by basically bootlegging a CD from bootlegged files for profit.

Albeit, my understanding is that, he was granted some type(?) of permission from Disney execs after the fact, which makes it seem all the more dirtier to me. Disney didn't exactly roll out the red carpet and dig out their music archives just for him to copy and sell their soundtracks and sound effects.

Maybe it shouldn't bother me, since I am not one of the people who got burned. But I guess I was effected indirectly, since this group no longer shares the Rare/probably never to be heard again tracks or playlists. After David had discovered this small group, started getting the files, and then came out with their music on his CD volumes, pretty much everyone who shared the rarities, just shut down, and talked about the "backstabbing" on the messageboard.

Most of this is 3rd party info, but I personally read in depth topics about this, and the stories all pretty much have the same ending, even on different Disney related messageboards/communities. I am reporting what I have read and calling it out, because I don't think that someone should reap the benefits of other's fruitful labors, and then take full credit while profiting from it. At minimum, he should have at least credited the site from which the files came from.

Sorry to rant off topic, but since David posted here to obviously exploit his wares, I felt compelled to post and share what I've read and heard.

Now a non-releated idea, and Not to step on pineapplemans toes, but maybe this topic should be moved to beyond tiki, since it is about the Haunted Mansion by Shag, and not about the tiki by Shag?
I attended this event as well, and already posted in beyond tiki under another topic that aquaorama had started. By the way, Nice pics, pineapple! I regret not taking my camera on Sunday, but we always go to Disneyland, and seeing Josh is always fun, but I figured I'd see him at Oasis, or his upcoming show in Culver City in November...
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=33222&forum=6&3

[ Edited by: Tom Slick 2009-08-10 22:34 ]