Howdy do.
As some of you know, I've been on an ongoing search for the releases of Robert Hall Productions/New World, A label largely lost to time. For the past few months, I've been researching and acquiring/archiving albums, trying to find as much as possible. At this point in time, I've listened to dozens of albums beyond the ones I personally own, all of which privately shared to me through Drive & Soulseek mainly. Here's where my current dilemma kicks in.
My mission with this hunt is to find, release, and preserve as many albums from Robert Hall Productions as I can, with the very wishful end goal of having the entire discography available and easily accessible for public viewing/listening. Legally, It seems fairly failsafe. Robert Hall Productions, as a library, has been defunct for a long while, and most likely the same applies to other libraries Robert Hall sourced/licensed much of it's music/SFX from. From uploading my Robert Hall albums on YouTube, practically none of it's hit content matches (aside from the odd sound effect or two). The main issue lies in the Robert Hall rips themselves.
I don't participate much in "collecting culture", but from my understanding, many collectors, particularly those with rare/hard to find music, are, rather reasonably, protective of their collections. I can understand the sentiment that, if shared with the wrong people, their collections could be used in all the wrong ways. And, personally, there's something morally conflicting to me about uploading people's rips elsewhere online without their consent, even if they don't legally own the music. At the same time, I've been given no real reason why Robert Hall Productions should stay buried away (same can apply with other Libraries as well). There's so much great material stuffed in these records; it'd be a shame not to release it all to the world before they're lost forever.
Ultimately, what I'm asking you folks is; have you've ever experienced similar situations like this, and is there any reasonable solution to this problem? I could simply just release all of these rips I've discovered or been shared, but I also want to respect others and not potentially create bad blood. I want to approach my search with the best intentions, so any thoughts you folks have, even if it ain't much, would mean so much to me.
While I'm at it, I want to briefly list of all of the Robert Hall albums I've listened to outside of my personal collection thus far. Do any of you folks know some of the rippers behind these? I've considered reaching out to many of these folks directly for their takes on releasing these albums. I've got a feeling their responses may vary, but I feel it'd better to ask than not communicate at all.
RH 1-2
Rh 5-6
RH 7-8
RH 48-49
RH 52-53
RH 78-79
RH 100-101
RH 102-103
RH 204-205
RH 212-213
RH 220-221
RH 234-235
RH 238-239
RH 246-247
W 15-16
W 27-28
W 296-297
W 306
Thanks for reading, and God bless.
