Roadrunner Blogs | The Mail Bag

Hello
My name is Daniel O'Donovan. I am UK based 21 year old student and a huge fan of all your bands especially Machinehead Megadeth and Trivium. As a Trivium fan I think that I should make you aware that there are several videos on youtube by a ParanoiDave that are using trivium's music without a copywrite agreement of any kind. If the videos were good or complementary I would see this as good advertising for trivium. However they clearly are not and insight a lot of ill feeling towards a band I love! As the copywrite holders you can get youtube to pull the videos and protect a band that desevres your support and ours as the fans. Thankyou for giving the world so many awesome bands to be proud of and make our ears bleed to the sound of bone crushing metal!
Yours sincerly
Daniel O'Donovan

Hey Daniel. Since there's a three day weekend coming up in the U.S. and I'm going fishing tomorrow, I'm feeling rather charitable in this mailbag posting. First, thanks so much for being a fan of our bands and concerned for their well-being. Second, I'd like to point out (for your education and entertainment) that the term is correctly spelled copyright. As in having a right to copy.

Now, relating to ParanoiDave: while I will not claim to be an expert on copyright law I am somewhat well-informed on the subject. What ParanoiDave is doing is likely parody, which has been long established as a fair use. Even if we wanted to take him to court, there are a whole range of issues involved in deciding whether it's fair use or not.

If that fair use didn't exist, we still would have no problem with ParanoiDave's use of the music. We do request the takedown of our official videos because they take away from the promotional power of our own YouTube channel which now helps our bands and the label make money on each stream. But apart from that, Roadrunner encourages fans to make original videos using our music or portions of our official videos. We couldn't stop it anyway, and some of it ends up being really good.

Speaking of which, the last reason we have no problem with ParanoiDave: he's funny. Don't get me wrong, we support our bands, but plenty of people in the office found his Trivium Interpretation to be hilarious. Why would you want to stifle that kind of talent?

In closing, DON'T BE SO SERIOUS MAN! It's all a bit of fun and it's doing no one any harm. Far from it. ParanoiDave has exposed three quarters of a million people to Trivium's music!

To Whom,

I recently bought tickets to go see your client(Nickleback) in concert and at first I was truly excited, they are one of my and my 10 year old daughters favorite groups. But then I spoke to several people who have gone to some of there concerts and was told that they are not an appropriate group to take your kids to see. I have been told that they openly use ACID AND OTHER DRUGS WHILE ON STAGE . As a parent I am truly disappointed that I will not be able to take my daughter to see her favorite group in concert because of there atrocious behavior. IF this is true I feel that you should put some kind of warning stating that they are not appropriate for minor children to be allowed to attend there concerts. I have taken her to many concerts and have never seen this kind of behavior allowed on stage before. I have also , seen other group attache the warning label on there ticket site's stating not recommended for minor children. As a responsible business I would think that you too would post something stating there inability to grow up and warn future parents from taking there children to see this irresponsible behavior. Thank you sincerely Cynthia

Dear Cynthia,

I've never heard, nor can I find reports, of anyone in Nickelback using drugs on stage. They certainly have consumed alcohol on stage during their concerts. They also use strong language on stage. While many of their songs are quite positive Nickelback are, first and foremost, a rock 'n' roll band.

Nickelback tickets are almost universally sold on Ticketmaster, which does not attach any "warning labels." They do let customers know if a venue is all ages or not, but that's it. It would be best to contact Ticketmaster about their lack of warning labels. You can do so here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/h/customer_serve.html.

All the best,

Jeremy

Hello from Iraq !

I'm a US Army Soldier currently deployed to FOB Falcon , Iraq. I deployed in early February and am expected to be here at least 15 months due to the Pentagon's announcement of extensions for active Army units, so we're here till at least May 2008.

Anyway, I'm writing to ask if it's possible to get any promotional stuff you may put out...t-shirts, DVDs, CDs, &lsquozines, or whatever. The PX here has a shitty selection of music and absolutely NOTHING available for metalheads like me, and I don't have the capability to download any music. And there are absolutely no music DVDs available either. I can wear civilian T-shirts around the barracks.

If you can spare anything at all, I'd be most appreciative.

I know the last time I was deployed, some bands/companies stated that they didn't support the war in Iraq and/or the current administration's policies, and I respect that.

If you're not interested in sending anything, you don't have to reply if you choose not to do so. This is a one-time letter and I will not contact you again. If you have received a letter from me more than once, I apologize, as it was unintentional.

Thank you for your time.

Mark

Hey Mark, it took a while, but we'll be sending you some stuff later in the day. Enjoy! And remember, it's a scientifically proven fact that Headbangers Ball t-shirts increase the morale in any unit.

Share on Facebook