Shenmue. A Retraction

Yesterday we reported on the recently released music album Shenmue. A Love Letter. You may have noticed that this article has now been removed, and that's because new facts have come to light regarding the legalities of this work. According to this thread over at Shenmue Dojo, several of the tracks do not belong to credited composer Patrem and were used without the consent of the original artists. Indeed, the album features performances by pianist Reuben Kee who sadly died in 2007.

"Hell no I didn't give him permission [to use my tracks]. If I didn't think trying to profit off Sega's properties was the dumbest idea ever, I'd be selling these myself."
 - LanDC

Furthermore, some of the tracks simply appear to be slightly slowed or sped up versions of tracks ripped straight from the Shenmue game with no permission from Sega. While we have had our own wrists slapped by Sega for selling the Ultimate Guide (I'm just mentioning that here so we don't look like massive hypocrites!), we cannot condone somebody profiting from others' hard work (especially when those performers are no longer around to cry plagiarism). Thanks to Skilljim, LanDC, Sega Scream and the other members of the Shenmue Dojo forum for bringing this to our attention.

6 comments:

flan said...

Thanks for posting this, most people would just sweep it under the rug and never address it.

Unknown said...

I have been a fan of Reuben for years becasue of his mugen character creations and his incredible piano skills. I feel it wasn't necessary to curse a project and act like a jerk over a piece he did as homage to an awesome game. The guy has been dead for many years now c'mon these guys need to get over themselves.

SkillJim said...

Many thanks for this Tom. It wouldn't have been so bad if he compiled this album out of love for the fans DA Hobbyists, but he was charging £8 for the privelage of you downloading it, and changing the titles of the songs, and only using his name for credit appearing as though he had produced each track. The whole annoyance wasn't directly associated with Reuben in particular, but to not even credit the guy and then to profit over his work is something to just let slip and "get over"? I think it's something someone should know before deciding to pay £8 for something thats just 66 direct youtube video music rips. If you're happy to pay for a pack like that where no one is credited for their work then go for it, the album is still available.

SkillJim said...

Also, now that Reubens song is on iTunes under a different name and composer associated with it, who's to say that youtube content id system won't flag a copyright claim on his 2007 video and potentially take it down? Could happen now.

Deef said...

Well shenmue is inspiring a lot, as a fan of hip hop i enjoyed listening this shenmue tape :
katrah-quey.bandcamp.com/album/beat-tape-shenmue

Red Rum said...

Shit. Literally just found out about this today.

I was one of the remixers he stole from, Red Rum from Shenmue-UK/Shenmixes, which Pingham (the admin of Shenmue-UK) uploaded alot of my old Shenmue remixers on YouTube many years ago. Kind of crap that things like this happen.