> > Or they can tag suffix's
> > on their names. Pharmacy(Online) vs. Pharmacy(OnStage). since these
guys are
> > in the same city.... whoa.... Hmmm South Side Pharmacy vs. West Side
Pharmacy?
> > Hmmm .... I actually like the sound of that..
> Yeah, so do I! But, the problem is, that all the hard work I've done has
been
> under the name Pharmacy, and by adding West Side to the front is really no
> different to a total name change. The goodwill I've earned over the past
year
> (mainly through visits to my mp3.com site) will be lost if people can't
find me
> again - and they're all going to be looking for Pharmacy.. So really, a
name
> change at all is like going back to square 1 (or maybe square 2, 'cause
I've still
> got the songs.)
i did a *very* simple modification to a name i was using--stereotypes became
stereotypes djs (we were primarly djs anyway) because there's some
electronic group w/an album out under the name stereotypes.
> I'd love to do it that way, but I honestly believe I should have the
rights to the
> name. I've been using it twice as long as he has, and as far as popularity
goes,
> he's played once (I think. Anorther gig being advertised for the end of
the
> month), while mine is measured in a few thousand visits to my site. I'm a
long way
> ahead of him in most things - I've got 2 albums out, 5 music videos, and
I'm
> halfway through producing a film, which mentions Pharmacy, and the
physical
> Pharmacy CD is an important part of the film. And I've written the
soundtrack. And
> I've sent out many CDs to radio stations and labels and everyday people.
I've come
> to far to back off now - especially since I don't think I should.
>
> It seems to me if this goes legal (which it may well do), the law may well
favor
> the 'traditional' style of band - playing live, doing interviews and
getting known
> around their home town, over the more 'internet based' thing - uploads,
downloads,
> mp3s, internet radio etc. and a worldwide fan base. I don't think the law
has
> caught up with how the internet is changing things.
>
> The reason I ended up with the name Pharmacy was that I was using a
different name
> (Nocturne) since 1993 before being contacted by a US band with the same
name. I
> has never really liked Nocturne, so I agreed to change. But.....I like
Pharmacy.
>
i think the law (u.s. law, at least) doesn't really care whether you play
live or not. the more important thing is that you can document that you've
been using the name longer--you've got 2 albums and he's only played one
gig!! there's a story about how a band of industry insiders (aka studio
musicians) had to change the name of their band because a *bar* band had
registered the name, and wouldn't sell it--the studio guys had offered to
buy the name. what they did was change their name to steps *ahead*.
-t
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Apr 15 2000 - 15:00:29 MET DST