Drakenfjord Songbook Copyright Infringement — UPDATED

TSivia bas Tamara V’Amberview reports that a 1200 page online songbook has come to their attention which contains “…songs unattributed from: Ansteorra, Atenveldt, Calontir, Drachenwald, Ealdormere, Glean Abhann, Lochac, Midrealm, and Outlands. And that was just SKIMMING.”

In most cases these songs have had the names of SCA kingdoms replaced with “Drakenfjord” or similar such changes. Most material is older; some of the songs she has identified belong to Shava reports that she has identified material from Master Hector of the Black Height, Mistress Eleanor Fairchild (Truly Carmichael) , Sir Bela of Eastmarch (Poul Anderson), THL Emer ( Em Holbert), Baldwin of Erebor,Tim Jennings (Garraed), and Morgana Bro Morganwg.

The PDF document states:

If you have any lyric sheets, sheet music or other commentary to add please contact Dame Katrin Karlsdöttir at the email address of Katrin.karlsdottir@gmail.com and pass along whatever information you may posses. For instance many of these pieces are of unknown origin and any notes of where they originated would be appreciated. Also if you are interested in increasing your collection of works many many more can be found archived at the Bardic Bower Website also known as the Bardic Hall… http://bardsbower.multiply.com Many notes and alternant versions can be found there as well. Printed copies of this document are unavalible due to the prohibitive cost of printing and shipping a 1,200 page document. Feel free to print it and distribute it as you will for use within the realms of the organizations that promote the Bardic arts such as Amtgard, The High Fantasy Society, and The Society for Creative Anachronism…

If you recognize any of the unattributed material there, know who wrote it, or if you wrote it, they ask that you email the compiler and ask her to provide proper attribution and obtain permission, or remove the item(s).

http://www.drakenfjord.org/bardic.pdf

The Ealdormere Gazette reported futher details:

It has come to the Gazette’s attention that the Free Kingdom of Drakenfjord (part of the High Fantasy Society in Texas, and formally part of Amtgard) has compiled a lengthy publication called Bardic Babblings.

Unfortunately, the compiler of this tome has taken works from numerous bards of the Society for Creative Anachronism (as well as other modern artists) without permission, and has not included any credit or copyright whatsoever. These versions of the Society’s bards were also apparently housed on a website called the Bardic Bower (which is now defunct).

Although the compiler, attributed as Dame Katrin Karlsdöttir, claims that “many of these pieces are of unknown origin” it seems unlikely that all these pieces by the Society’s modern day bards would have been discovered with no credit or copyright noted.

Officers of Drakenfjord are listed on their website. The High Fantasy Society website has no contacts listed, and appears to be years out of date, though they do also have an active Forum and a Facebook group.

[Update: Bardic Babblings has also been published on a site called Yumpu.]

 

(Edit — additional reporting from The Ealdormere Gazette)

(Edit — to correct the attribution to only TSivia)