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AFI Share Statement on Former Bass Player Selling Early Recordings

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Aug 3, 2017.

  1. Melody Bot Aug 3, 2017
    Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    AFI have shared a statement on Facebook in regard to their former bass player selling re-releases of their early work. You can find the full statement below.


    Our former bass player, Geoff Kresge, is selling reissues of original AFI recordings. While we remain proud of every era of our 26 year existence, and certainly do not begrudge Geoff feeling reflective towards the four years he spent with us before he quit, we are confused why he has taken it upon himself to assume control of the shared Key Lime Pie label and release these records without notifying or consulting us. We had always loved the fact that these releases were special limited edition items, pieces of history that we wanted to keep rare. Geoff has begun accepting pre-orders of the Dork EP and is including on it an unreleased song which he wrote no part of, without getting permission from the co-owners and songwriters. Geoff has never paid anyone in the band, including Mark Stopholese, their share of the proceeds of these sales, despite our repeated requests that he do the right thing and pay our shares. While we do feel for what we can only assume is Geoff’s financial need, it simply is not fair for one person – a person who left the band willingly in 1996 – to benefit to the exclusion of the other owners of these recordings and writers of the songs. As fans, of course, we support your right to buy as you please, but we wanted you to know that we do not support these sales.
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    Raku likes this.
  2. aniafc Aug 3, 2017
    aniafc

    Trusted

    Pretty good statement on their part. They certainly should be able to take action against him if they wanted to, though, right?
     
    goation likes this.
  3. Jakob Allen Aug 3, 2017
    Jakob Allen

    Trusted

    I agree with them 100% on the issue, though it seemed strange to call out Geoffs possible financial issues. But yeah its a dick move on his part to be re-releasing these, and cool of AFI to say they support fans buying them regardless.
     
    js977 likes this.
  4. Nick Aug 3, 2017
    Nick

    @fangclubb Prestigious

    Geoff owns that label and always has though? So would assume he's got some rights regarding the recordings
     
    Raku likes this.
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  6. skogsraet Aug 3, 2017
    skogsraet

    Trusted Supporter

    As a label owner he probably has more rights than any other ex band member, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't give him the freedom to do whatever he wants with the music they made. I don't know a lot about the legal side of these things, but this just doesn't seem right.
     
  7. transrebel59 Aug 3, 2017
    transrebel59

    Regular

    Incredibly awkward situation but well handled on their part.
     
    Raku, skogsraet and cosmickid like this.
  8. MrCon Aug 3, 2017
    MrCon

    I was trying to describe myself to someone

    Being the label owner doesn't mean he necessarily owns the rights to the songs, even if they were released on that label.

    On top of that, pretty sure he'd owe anyone who wrote or performed them some form of royalty.
     
  9. skurt Aug 3, 2017
    skurt

    Sleekest of beaks. So Good.

    Some of the comments on that facebook post, oh boy
     
    Jason Tate likes this.
  10. Jason Tate Aug 3, 2017
    Jason Tate

    liner notes Staff Member

    Why did I look.
     
    SteveLikesMusic, AshlandATeam and js977 like this.
  11. skurt Aug 3, 2017
    skurt

    Sleekest of beaks. So Good.

    Jason Tate likes this.
  12. disambigujason Aug 3, 2017
    disambigujason

    Trusted Supporter

    Heh I did the same. Saw "assholes!" and called it quits there.
     
    Jason Tate and skurt like this.
  13. dorfmac Aug 4, 2017
    dorfmac

    Trusted

    haven't we seen pretty often labels put out releases that weren't necessarily endorsed by the bands? for some reason i feel like i remember this happening with drive-thru and then again with another big name - maybe an underoath album?
     
    Raku likes this.
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  15. Crisp X Aug 4, 2017
    Crisp X

    Don't stop looking at me Supporter

    I think so, wasn't it a boxset and it also happened to Anberlin ?
     
    Raku likes this.