Background Information
I appreciate copyright violation issues more-personally than some people might, because of experiences as a software developer. Like many others, I developed and marketed a wide range of specialized application software years ago. I developed products most people did not understand and had no use for, but that were very valuable to the few who understood and needed them. Companies like Microsoft spend millions of dollars developing software that can be licensed to millions of users at low prices. Highly-specialized software can be just as costly to develop, but must be licensed for high fees because of the few users. There is lots of incentive to cheat developers out of compensation by obtaining software from other users where license fees have to be high to provide reasonable developer income.

Music Transcription
I have spent countless hours over past months carefully stepping note-by-note through old flamenco recordings while writing standard music notation and tabs for my own use. Someone who hasn't done that probably would be amazed at the amount of time required to write accurate notation. It often doesn't take long to write rough approximations, but precisely determining and then carefully writing exactly what was played is orders of magnitude more difficult. I have done that mostly for myself with the added intention of eventually sharing some of it freely on the Old School Flamenco Foro, but had I been doing to support myself, I probably would be starving, because I can't imagine being able to charge enough to pay expenses.

Alain Faucher Transcriptions
Alain Faucher does that as a business. I don't know him. I have never seen any of his transcriptions, but I have read that they are highly-accurate. His fees may seem high, but based on my own experience, probably not high enough to provide reasonable compensation for his time. I am posting these comments because a forum member informed me that our private messaging system is being used to negotiate exchanges of copies of Alain Faucher transcriptions. I don't know often that has occurred or how many members are involved. Furthermore, I provide the forum merely as a service to others interested in flamenco and have no authority to dictate ethics to anyone. However, I think those involved should think about how they would feel if they provided the service Alain Faucher provides as a means of support and they were being cheated by people giving away their product.

Copyright issues are of course hot topics these days, because the Internet has made it so easy to share copyrighted documents and media. It is not my intention to encourage violations of copyright laws, but there are situations where even though sharing copies is illegal, no one is harmed. For example, I still own copyrights to a lot of software that I personally developed many years ago. I haven't marketed that software for years and couldn't care less if people who still have it want to freely exchange copies. Something similar is likely true for many old musical recordings that haven't been marketed for years, especially where performers are dead and recording companies have been out of business for a long time. However, sharing Alain Faucher transcription copies is much different. He creates transcriptions to earn current income. If someone wants what he creates, they should pay him for it. If they don't want it enough to pay him, they shouldn't steal it.

-Bob

Bob,
I completely agree with everything you said. Alain Faucher is unique in providing transcriptions of a lot of Flamenco music that nobody else transcribes. Potentially driving him out of business by illegally distributing his most popular transcription seems one of those short-sighted selfish strategies that are ultimately self-defeating. I just acquired a book of transcriptions from him. With the weak US dollar and shipping costs from France to the US it wasn't cheap perhaps. But the transcriptions are excellent, and considering that he is the only one who provides them, it was a heck of a bargain.

Flamencoblues

Hola Amigos

Alain Faucher

I just wanted to express my agreement on this matter of Alain Faucher.
We cannot photocopy a guitar and share it and only one person can use a cejilla or strings at one time.
The work of Alain is to make so many flamenco pieces available to us all and his labour is huge.
I have bought several from him and for me they seem to be very accurate.
If absolutely everyone bought from him instead of photocopying then perhaps he could lower his prices over years. But that is his business.
I do not think that one should copy recordings either unless they are so old an impossible to find anywhere.
I do not think that people should film guitarists in concert with their telephones without prior arrangement with the performer.
Having said all of this I do very much understand that there is an economic recession and very difficult times for most people so I can understands why people share transcriptions when otherwise they may not have.
Let us all hope that better times are ahead and that we can all enjoy purchasing our own personal copy of an original work.

Saludos cordiales

Tomás

I was contacted by this person and informed them I had sold all my Faucher transcriptions on ebay. I did not make or keep copies. I sold them at a big loss. It seems someone is always trying to get something for free. I bought all that interested me from Faucher and got from them ideas on falsetas I couldn't figure out and then sold them. Very good transcriptions and well worth the money.