Judith Anne Still: Pirated copies of William Grant Still Music CDs are available on the net from a German firm; FBI promises to get involved if there is a public complaint

William Grant Still Music Item No. CD-OPERA-TROUBISL-WGSM3001
http://www.williamgrantstill.com/Troubled-Island/dp/B00O05IMBU

$21.95

Product Details

A reproduction of the 1949 New York performance of this William Grant Still opera in collaboration with Langston Hughes and Verna Arvey. Available on CD, this recording is a 50th anniversary tribute to the first opera by an Afro-American to be staged by a major American company. One of the first productions, with all of its technical flaws, is presented here.

Just Tell the Story - Troubled Island

Edited by Judith Anne Still and Lisa M. Headlee

The Master-Player Library (2006)

University of Southern California Dornsife, Still Life:

Judith Anne Still '64 has devoted herself to rescuing the forgotten legacy of her composer father, William Grant Still.  Susan Bell, Jan. 4, 2013.

William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.

Judith Anne Still is the proprietor of William Grant Still Music, whose website is www.williamgrantstill.com.  She writes:

     Many years ago a crisis was characterized in this country as "a time to try men's (and, presumably, women's, also) souls."  Today, almost 2 1/2 centuries later, we are again in crisis and in need of a revolution of conscience to restore the culture, arts, intellect, morality, property rights and freedom from rapacity that is the foundation of any advanced civilization. 

     We at William Grant Still Music are especially aware of the criminality that has taken over in our era.  A German company, possibly a complex of companies, has pirated all of our CDs that we produced through Cambria, and is selling them on the net, claiming that they are the only source for the music of William Grant Still.  (We have been in business since 1934).  People who buy the products from them are thus breaking the law by receiving and holding stolen property.  The FBI promises to get involved if there is a public complaint.  Our music business may be mortally wounded unless the public gets involved by contacting the FBI's Intellectual Property Rights Center, (866) 477-2060 to report any known copyright infringements anywhere on the globe, 

     Moreover, the problem is so much greater than what we face at WGSM.  People download illegal files without a second thought, photocopy books and music, without any concern for the families of artists, writers and composers, and for future works that can not be brought forth owing to their theft.  Those who steal works under copyright are also harming themselves, because a small theft is a chip off the edifice of morality, and it is one step toward anarchy. 

     Because of the many attacks on copyrights, there are few book stores, music stores and library services left in the U.s.  Nor can our young people read intelligently, or think logically.  They put non-functional, irrational words into sentences ("Like, you know, like, what I'm saying, man,") so that the brain, which only improves through logical use of the language, loses I.Q. points.  The average person in this country has 50% less intelligence than any laborer in Elizabethan England.  So, many the English won the Revolution after all. 

So, what should we do?  Work to promote government action against copyright theft, and labor to improve our sad, ineffective copyright laws in the U.S., which do not come up to the level of the worldwide laws.  We have let all of the great works of the Harlem Renaissance fall into the public domain, because we do not grant perpetual copyrights. W.C. Handy's Foundation can no longer support itself owing to the lack of concern for the giants of Afro-American concert music.  This is more of a travesty than any incident of purported police brutality.  I urge all those who think that Afro-American culture and art is important, to act in this crisis. 

-- 

Judith Anne Still 

William Grant Still Music 

809 W. Riordan Rd., Suite 100, Box 109 

Flagstaff, AZ  86001-0810 

Phone  : (928) 526-9355 

Fax    : (928) 526-0321 

Email  : wgsmusic@bigplanet.com

Website: www.williamgrantstill.com

Comment by email:
What a wonderful presentation of the statement, with all the graphics--I am in awe.  You are such a friend to us!  [Judith Anne Still]