Autumn Flagg

Professor Drown

ENG 123

2/26/2020

There are many key ideas in this debate about people respecting the wishes of dead artists. People have similar thoughts about this but people also have very different opinions about it.  These ideas include whether or not we should be happy that this music exists, who is being harmed when we listen to the music of dead artists against their wishes? Is unfinished music a fraud or is it just unfinished work? Do artists’ rights extend after death?

One of the key ideas of the debate is questioning if we should just be happy that this music exists and not worry too much about the question. One writer, Anthony Cross, says that from the view of a music appreciator, we should be happy that the music exists because you get to hear things that may have been destroyed or deleted otherwise.  Another writer, Theodore Gracyk, disagrees. He thinks that if the artist has already commodified the work then we should not be happy. Gracyk adds that if we were to do this for dead artists we would have to do it for everyone.

Another idea within the debate is questioning if their unfinished work is fraud or is it just the work of the artist. Anthony Cross makes a point that they could release the music of the dead artist as a remix. If they released it as a remix then I do not think it would be considered fraud because they are putting someone else’s name on the music ALONG with the original artists name. This way no one is putting out this music with the original artists name only which could be fraud because it isn’t their own work they are presenting. 

I think that if they are raw recordings of the artists and there are no backup vocals, written instrumental parts or recorded instrumentals parts, then yes it could be considered fraud. I think so because when someone adds in all these other features it really is no longer the artists work. Only the vocals are. Maybe they anticipated it sounding much different and they wouldn’t like how it sounds today. On the other hand, I can see how it is also just the work of the artist that they are restoring and getting out there. Perhaps the artist would love what someone else did with their vocals.