Re: 1968: NME and David Frost show
Date: October 17, 2006 19:38
The tape is not in circulation for any number of reasons. First and foremost because whoever rightfully owns it has not decided to do anything with it, or possibly doesn't even know they have what they have.
And when you decide to use footage like that there are a myriad of clearances you have to go through. If Jagger doesn't like the way his hair looks he can say 'no,' and that's that. Or ABKCO can decide they want $250,000 dollars per minute of use of the footage. Remember, the Stones don't fully own ANY of the songs in that 68 NME bit.
A similar dilemna recently occurred with the rematser of the Ziggy Stardust live film onto DVD. Jeff Beck still did not give permission to Pennbaker et. al. to release/include his performance in the film for his own reasons. Gave the producers fits. Bowie also sings a few bars of "Love Me Do" during "The Jean Genie" and they probably would have to pay a gazillion for the rights to that these days.
When footage is'thrown out' and 'recovered' by a new party, it then becomes that person's property and they can then charge what they feel is adequate for the use. Thus, the rarer the footage, the higher the stakes. Once it's in circulation and everyone can get a copy, bootleg or not, its value - both monetarily and also 'content'-wise is pretty much smoked. And, yes, there are people who are in this type of business and it is their livlihood, or they have started a company specifically for that purpose. An archive if you will.
By 'content' wise, I mean someone putting together a history of the Stones or similar would not, you'd think, want to use the same stock footage or common footage that every other docu. has used. Makes their's look better obviously. So if whomever owns the clips lets it out, its value is, again, smoked.
The common NME PW footage you see (64/65) is available through many sources, and in varying quality -- kind of like the often crappy looking stock footage many 'houses' use from Monerrey Pop or Gimme Shelter (the real dark grainy stuff) which are taken from worse quality prints of the footage that have been leased, or similar, to other film houses.
And anything you see with a running time code at the bottom has, pretty much, been used without permission, though some exceptions may exist like the 'time code' copy is the only remaining copy as the original was destroyed, damaged, or stolen.
Time codes and 'credits' splattered across footage generally are from rough cuts/edits of films or preview copies sent to the producers that want to consider paying for the rights to use the footage.
Another possible reason the 68 NME Pollwinners has never seen the light of day could very well be because of exactly what it is: the last time The Stones played with Brian onstage, live. The boys may simply feel it is a personal memory they would rather not have diluted of its meaning by being in wide circulation.
And another reason may also be that no one really knows exactly where it is, or who exactly has it, or the owners may not even know what that dusty film can is in the back of the film storage room.
And, yes, some collector might have come into possession of it and wants to keep it for himself. Kind of like an art thief. Plus you have to understand the 'value' of something like that to a collector -- that kind of piece can gather a HUGE bargaining price in deals involving lost master tapes or outtake masters or the like. And could also go for a pretty hefty sum at auction if, indeed, they could prove rightful ownership of the footage.
If they don't have rightful ownership, they can't very well sell it legally, or put it out legally without risk of penalty. And someone like ABKCO would just LOVE to bring the hammer down on someone like that -- especially if it meant recovering a VERY valuable item.
Similar is the case with the 'alternate cut' of Gimme Shelter that Maysles has mentioned. With additional footage both on and off stage (Keith Rolling a joint in a bathtub apparently is part of it), the directors assembled a compeltely alternate version of the film which was subsequently stolen. (Yes, he could reassemble it from the negatives, but it would take far too much effort). The problem with this theft was that in those days the soundtrack and film were two seperate pieces and the thief only got the visual portion.
And what exactly can he or she do with it? Nothing -- once it gets circulated they can then track down who had it, and,apparently they have a real good idea about whose closet that's been sitting in unused for all these years.
I'll stop now,
J