Shortly after I first got online, like 15 years ago, I searched for anything from Northeast Ohio of interest to me, and Pere Ubu immediately stood-out at the forefront of the new economy - not just for Northeast Ohio but for the world of music - with what was at that time already the near-perfect website, by my assessment: Ubu Projex - the art and business affairs directorate of Pere Ubu and related projex.

You could buy, learn, communicate, find - and you realized how huge all things Ubu were, way back in those earlier days of the "band". Lots of albums and even t-shirts... wow.

This "Home Of Avant Garage" doesn't feel like it has changed much since the 1990s, except it has grown in scope and importance with each new Projex... and there seem to be 100s.  100s of projex and lost recordings and official bootlegs and other great Ubu stuff to buy, for the large, loyal Ubu following, now spanning generations (they were the first concert I took my 2-year-old daughter to see, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame).

Each new masterpiece is available through their exclusive Hearpen.com quality-control system, and/or their label Smog Veil.

Each day, this reflection of the soul of Ubu Projex has become increasingly valuable, because Ubu Roi is a very smart master of his own destiny. Long live Ubu Projex.

With a no-frills look and no-flash attitude, this site focuses you in on what matters - art and business affairs for all things Ubu Projex.

Smart! The first and most dramatic thing you see on the site is the messag... WE SELL SOUL - IT'S NOT CONTENT - IT'S CALLED MUSIC - PERE UBU! - DOWNLOAD THE GOOD STUFF FROM HEARPEN.COM

Only Pere Ubu fans need venture here... not a warm and fuzzy feeling place.

That is what you call punk art, business and programming. Good for the real punks.

I've met David Thomas - the only artist I've thought to "interview" - and this site reflects him very well. This is a soul management system. Buy this soul or go.

I'll let you in on a secret - David Thomas is a creative business genius, and I'm following his same plan.

Home of the
Avant Garage

Main Pages at the Home of Ubu Projex:
Calendar • Contacts • Home • Reference • Protocols • Ubutique (Shop) • Press Center

Ubu Projex does work.

It tells you how to contact and interact with Ubu Projex - their calendar - and what they expect of their fans while at concerts, especially as regarding the New Economy.

In fact, Ubu Projex manages their on-line soul more tightly than any creative force of this scope I've seen - they are not trashed across the Internet because they hold their fans and YouTube responsible for not degrading the quality of Ubu Projex products - this is all about maintaining the purity of the soul.

Not about money?

No - David Thomas is definitely not all about money. He is successful - one of the most successful of all creative geniuses I know of - but his success is not measured in just dollars. It is measured in scale - scope - proportion. And he is #1 in his class - many classes - and in ways best in the world. And we best discover that in his world - http://www.ubuprojex.net.

As an Information Technology expert, I find his approach to the virtual world correct, exceptional and a model for the industry to follow.

If you explore Ubu Projex you will realize there are 100s of components to this Ubu kingdom and it is not absurd - it is an ecommerce machine - a high quality, pure, direct music management system.

And, most of the money spent there seems to be able to stay there. This is a music site for the musician, by the musician.

The musicians may add all the soul they like, and attach a price or not, and be appropriately compensated for art, even when free.

Ubu Projex keeps others from stealing the soul, by enforcing Ubu Projex rights at online video portals like YouTube, and by expressing their expectations of fans at their own portal. As Pere Ubu fans are true, they seem to respect the wishes of the band...

If you are wise and fortunate enough to attend the Pere Ubu Modern Dance performance at the Beachland Ballroom, tonight, keep the following protocols in mind, from Ubu Roi... they offer unique perspectives inside the music industry, in this evolving new economy, from a great leader of our region - the leader of Ubu Projex - David Thomas, originally from Cleveland, Ohio....

Taking Pictures & Press Protocol

1. Pere Ubu won't have its picture taken for press or promotional purposes anywhere in public, i.e. anywhere that civilians can see us getting our picture taken. We prefer studios or out of the way locations. It is a shameful thing for a man to pose for a picture and we seek to hide our shame from the public. Photographers, note: we will not run or jump or do anything. Don't ask. Don't think you can wear us down. Many have tried. We do NOT relax.

2. Photos may be taken freely and without restriction during concerts by professionals or fans, with flashes or without flashes, for fun or for no fun. We don't care as long as you stay off the stage and don't bother others. We reserve the right to be totally and absolutely arbitrary. It is our art.

3. Please note that David Thomas, when performing in one of his solo groups, should not be described as ex-Pere Ubu or formerly of Pere Ubu. He does not blink in and out of existence. This seems to be a very hard concept for writers to come to grips with but he remains a member of Pere Ubu while playing with the pale boys, buying groceries or taking a bath.

4. Mr Thomas is happy to do written interviews via email as long as it's understood that anything interesting will be posted at the web site. In-person, face to face interviews can be arranged-- contact the directors [at] ubuprojex [dot] net of Ubu Projex.

5. Please print our web site address:

http://www.ubuprojex.net

6. For press tour requirements see below.

Back to the Top

Live Recording Permission & Bootlegs

NB. To find the procedures involved in recording a cover version of an Ubu song, see below.

1. For private, archival, radio, etc. recordings you need to get our written approval. Check with directors [at] ubuprojex [dot] net concerning the procedure.

2. You need to sign a letter of agreement that guarantees the following:

• In the case of a sound recording you will give us a DAT digital copy of the master on the night. In the case of a video recording you will give us a copy in an agreed format. We can do what we like with these copies, including commercial release in which you can have no financial interest.
• We will need to know: (1) the name of the station or network; (2) the recording method; and (3) the intended broadcast date and time.
• You can have no commercial rights.
• We have the absolute right of veto.
• No costs charged to us.

3. We reserve the right to be absolutely arbitrary. We trust the following: VPRO (Holland), Couleur 3 Radio (Switzerland) and Danish Broadcasting Corporation (solely on the basis of the King of Denmark's defense of the jews in WWII). Others will be treated with suspicion.

How do you feel about audience recording for personal home use?

1. We will not give permission for that sort of recording.
2. We will not make any attempt to discourage it or stop it. We will not ask the venue to act and we will not act ourselves... usually. If we see mic stands going up and some elaborate rig in place, or if we don't feel good about any aspect of the situation, we will act to put a stop to it. Discreet and respectful people have no worries.
3. If you do record a show we expect you to send us a good quality copy.
4. Asking to patch into the soundboard gets a curt, dismissive "no" and will get you banned from recording. Putting up mics around the soundboard achieves the same end. Bugging our soundman for any reason gets the same.

I recently had posted the Rocket from the Tombs Jack Slack Lp, on Ebay and was threatened with legal action by your agent for doing so. I purchased this record legally in Canada over 10 years ago and believe I had every right to post and sell this record. I will attach below the emails from your agent . I removed the record for sale to prevent any possible infringement on your rights. Please let me know your position on this matter.

The album you refer to is an illegal bootleg. Regardless of whether or not it's been bought in good faith, there is no such thing as legal ownership of stolen property. Go out and buy a stolen necklace in good faith. See what happens. If someone sells a legal copy of a copyrighted work that is a perfectly sound and normal transaction. It is the foundation of all commerce. There is, however, no such thing as legal ownership of stolen property. There are no circumstances of law anywhere on the planet I dare say that allow for legal ownership of something stolen. Clearly this incident may seem like an unfair situation from your end but, on the other hand, if you're honest about it, you probably knew it was a bootleg when you bought it. A bootleg is stolen property. Of course everyone has bootlegs and we're pretty loose about this when it comes to fans trading bootlegs with each other privately.

It seems to me that going on eBay is the equivalent of being indiscreet. As you note, not being discreet calls down the hammer. The reason for this "don't ask, don't tell" policy is that we have no problem with fans doing what fans do but if you allow public exploitation of your work to go unpunished then you devalue it. By entering into a commercial transaction you have left the safe confines of fandom wherein the discreet non-commercial trading or exchange of bootlegs, for example, would be overlooked. We are not seeking to strip you of your bootleg and if you return to the safe confines of fandom then you will slip beneath our vision and that will be the end of the story. In the marketplace, however, you are expected to play by the rules.

Smog Veil, the legally licensed copyright holder of the RFTT recordings, has a right, and as far as we're concerned, a duty, to protect their investment - an investment that has been distributed to all the musicians and writers of the recordings. Jack Slack, it might be noted, has never paid anyone anything. We have our eye on the person behind Jack Slack. He has been warned.

So my question to you is, What do you want from me? I am sympathetic. But I also play by the rules. And I play by them even when they don't go in my favor-- which like yourself probably seems like much of the time.

On the subject of YouTube... Responses to Fan Enquiries

For the latest see Grocery Police Department page.

Our position on fan usage of bootlegs is very clear. We are happy for fans to do what fans do. Some of us are, or used to be, fans. To our undying shame there is an Ubu musician who trolls Russian web sites for Yes bootlegs. To repeat, as long as you do not enter the marketplace we are happy.

None of the submitters asked our permission to upload to the site. If they had we may or may not have given permission depending on quality of recording and quality of performance. And on any number of intangibles. "We reserve the right to be arbitrary - it is our art."

We are not interested in self-promotion if the cost is loss of editorship. Recordings of live events are not accurate reproductions of the event. The concert experience cannot be captured on tape. It is a gestalt of innumerable real-life sensations that fill each moment as it goes by and then are lost forever in the time stream. We almost always choose bootleg style recordings in preference to mobile multi-track recordings when we compile live records. But the operative word is "choose." WE choose. We are uniquely and solely qualified to be the editors of our own work. We have paid the price. In regard to YouTube, we were not asked. We did not choose.

The fans of Pere Ubu do not own us. Their money does not buy us. It buys our productivity - we determine our productivity. Without control of our productivity we abdicate our uniqueness. We owe nothing to our fans but the determination to maintain the quality, vision and uniqueness of our productivity. (But, to be truly accurate, we do not owe our fans even that - we owe ourselves.) Otherwise then why don't you just send us a monthly check because we are who we are? Of course not. It's a one way street. The bus runs one way. You can get on the bus or not. But if you get on the bus you can't then tell the driver to go by the mini-mart on Payne.

What is particularly galling is the law in this matter. As you discovered we own the copyright and any posting of our material violates that copyright unless it is licensed. When we discover a violation we inform YouTube and they promptly remove the material. However, the law is written in such a way that should the same material be posted after a week, or weeks (I'm unsure of the time frame), YouTube is legally permitted to host the new posting until they are AGAIN notified of the violation - even though it may be the same material. You can imagine then that for a small company of artists like ourselves this becomes a matter of constantly policing the site. It becomes a significant waste of time and energy. And it constitutes what I would call a form of harassment. Though not legally. So here we are, two different parties viewing the law from two different angles, both frustrated by the same law.

It is our stated policy that if you ask permission to post we will consider it after you supply us with a 1:1 digital copy of the material. I do not know what you posted. I have no interest in viewing these clips and more to the point, I simply don't have the time.

In our current state of irritation we must now consider changing our policy. If we license some material and refuse license to other material it means that we will have to spend even more time and effort weeding out what is permitted and what is not. At the moment we can send a notification saying that everything they have is in violation. It's irritating but still simple. If we permit some and refuse others then the process becomes even more time-consuming. Another element to the equation is YouTube's policy whereby the posting of material to their site grants them a copyright to the material for all time. There then arises a legal question in that should we license a posting are we granting them a copyright in the material? Yet another time and life consuming issue. I am a musician. It's amazing how little time I can devote to creative work in my year as time goes by and worldwide bureaucracy expands. If you want to know real mind-numbing tedium, try to work through the regulations and paperwork involved in playing a concert in France, for example. Not to mention the punitive anti-foreigner taxes becoming rife throughout Europe. Germany and Holland, in particular, target foreign musicians with a 20% levy on gross income - it only applies to musicians who are not German or Dutch, no other profession is affected, and DJs are exempt.

If you don't like Ronald McDonald and Happy Meals and Special Sauce then you don't have to buy a Big Mac. The McDonalds Corporation, however, is under no obligation to run their affairs so as to please you or your sensibilities. And frankly they'd be nuts to even worry about it.

That record companies choose to promote their products on YouTube is of no concern to us. But, note, they choose. They select exactly what they want to be distributed. No one asked us.

Not everyone at a record company is a scumbag. I doubt if even the majority is. I don't know any of the details of CCR's dealings with record companies and I wouldn't presume to guess. I DO know that record companies make an easy target for disgruntled musicians who have made bad decisions in the past, or who have been "cheated" by the times. There are plenty of people especially in the early days who got a bad shake from the business. On the other hand, name any sports player from 40 years ago who didn't get an equally bad shake in comparison with today's players.

Fan appreciation has nothing to do with it. And there is no point to getting sidetracked. We bring a product to the marketplace. Those who choose to do so may purchase that product. Buying a concert ticket entitles the purchaser to that momentary experience but not to record the experience and not to copy the recording of that experience. That is the law. And more importantly that is the "deal." We clearly state that we will not stop any respectful, discreet recording of our concerts, or the private, fan-driven trading of those copies. We go on to state, however, that once the marketplace becomes involved we will intervene. YouTube is a marketplace. It is not a benign and discreet environment. It is a business. Once a marketplace is involved we have the right and duty to determine what of ours appears in the marketplace.

Whether it hurts or helps us has nothing to do with it.

There is nothing to prevent a fan from seeking our permission to post. There is a methodology for accomplishing this. We are freely available via email. The issue is permission, not money, not appreciation, not harm or benefit. It is politeness, respect, and appreciation for the fact that we are entitled to have absolute control of our own art. The beginning and end of the issue is Permission. When you want to use somebody's property you ask.