Soulwalking RIP

[Fletch]

Soulwalking.co.uk, the British based website that gave browsers access to plenty of out of print songs of the 60, 70s, 80s, etc, has shut down due to a copywright lawsuit against it.

While I understand the need to protect copyrighted material, 1) the site's owner made not a dime of profit from it; and 2) most of the songs that were able to be streamed or downloaded were songs well out of print. So Soulwalking was more of a musical internet library/reference/resource center, as opposed to a profit making retail internet outlet. Love to have thoughts on this. Peace.

[Monny JcIntosh]

Damn, that was a great site :(

[DJ Timmy Richardson]

DAMN...This site was one of my all time favorites. A great source for Artist of the day. Had rare sound bits. This is sad.

[DJ Timmy Richardson]

From the site owner:




Where do I begin? (Old Carpenter's tune..bless!! LOL Liked that Rod Temperton re-issue album from 5 years or so)

Well, at the outset of this site I had one purpose. That was to further the careers of some great soul artists and pay some respect to those who had fallen in the passing of time. Many, I felt, had little or no recognition in this homogenised and pasteurised New Millennium environment of looks over quality.

I sat here reading several books on the subject and I did consider the act of plagiarism. What is plagiarism? It is the act of stealing someone else's work. For profit usually.

At the outset, I figured that I must be honourable and return any credit where credits were due. I work as a designer, so the in's and out's of this 'egg-shell soulwalk' were new to me. All I wanted to do was get the many Black people (and I am not ashamed to say that in these times of people describing people in different shapes, colours and sizes) the credit they deserved. Black is Black and you guys should be proud to be that way.


I am an overweight white guy from Surbiton, near London, who cannot claim to have experienced the awful scenes at Sharpsville or Malcolm X and Martin Luther King's valiant crusades of the Sixties. Where are their contemporaries today? Those noble Black Power protestations? I am ashamed of many of my fathers contemporaries, not my father by the way (although we had our differences).

I was 10 in 1966. Hardly a seasoned politician! Just made me feel for those who had suffered at the hands of the ignorant, bigoted ones. Look at Rodney King's video footage. How can anyone not love these victims? These are God's children as many of my contemporaries are. Remember, there are those in Iraq and North Korea who are the silent majority. We should love these people in the same way.

Soul music is Black Music, pure and simple. If it looks like a duck, waddles, goes quack and water runs off it's back...it is a duck!! LOL. I love Black people...and the Irish for some reason. LOL. Guess it is all to do with a 'sense of humour' and longevity. Longevity, ah yes. One thing this site has not. Got it's shelf life like all of us I guess.

I was contacted, last Friday, by one of the publishers, whose book I refer to at the site. At the outset, I guess the mistake I made was to credit these people for their reference material. I just thought it would be a fair thing to do.

The book I refer to is the Virgin Book Of R & B & Soul (http://www.muze.com/). Colin Larkin is a fine writer and that book has been a touchstone for me regarding many of the artists covered in this website's pages. I added a link to Amazon where I thought that many others might want to pick up a copy?

The parent company of the book contacted me last Friday, telling me that the Lawyers were on my case. Worst week of my 46 years, I must say. I felt sick in my stomach. I contacted the guy who mailed me but after hearing nothing from the man, and, after furnishing him with my phone number, no-one called. Yesterday, I received an e-mail from that company informing me that I may be subject to a $150,000 law suit.

At the outset, Soulwalking has never made me any money (as people, who try to access the Real Audio from time to time and find out both streams are busy. LOL). This is all I can afford. I am a poor man, relatively, in today's society. I love my wife and daughter and would not want to see anything bad happen to them. Does that make me a bad man? Maybe I am. I don't know. As Ashford & Simpson once sang 'Whose To Say Whose The Wisest Of Us All?' I am no person to have an opinion on the subject. I just feel such a fool.

I have thought long and hard about this issue and have taken the decision that (as I do with most things) I don't want to upset anyone.

The proverbial plug has to be pulled.

As I mentioned in my e-mail to the company involved:

'Dear...,

I received an e-mail from a London representative of yours advising me of your companies intentions.

Your London representative told me you (and he) would be in touch. He never called me even though he requested my number here, which I did
send him.

I have thought long and hard about this matter, since receiving the initial correspondence last Friday, and I have decided to shut the site down
tomorrow.

The largest section of the site is the resume section. There are hundreds of artists there that do not appear in your book (Ronn Matlock, L.A.
Boppers, Sheree Brown, Invisible Man's Band, Pleasure, etc). Many of them I have helped with their record sales. If this section goes, the site will become a little irrelevant & impotent. The way of the music industry I guess.

Soulwalking is/was a labour of love. It is just me, several books (including yours) that I add links to Amazon to, if possible, so people can buy them.
I thought that a fair gesture. Many artists contact me and send information. I help many students at college in the U.K. and U.S. with facts and information. They ask me if they can take the site pages for their school work and I am absolutely delighted to let them do just that.

Just so you know, I am not a company. I do not make any money from the site. We are poor people. Soulwalking costs me £200 per year to keep
up on the Net. The outcome of a $150,000 dollar law suit against my family would render us homeless. I cannot subject my loved ones to that.

I would appreciate until tomorrow to get a holding page up there to, fairly, explain to people why the site has gone. I would appreciate your input in
order to be fair on your behalves.

For this old man, information is information. You love the music and you want the artists to fare well. I don't mind people plagiarising my work. It
helps the artists and that is all I am in it for.

Kind regards

Toby Walker'

IMPORTANT FOR SITE VISITORS:

One thing I would ask you is not to shoot the messenger. The people who work at Muze also have loved ones, boyfriends, girlfriends, kids,
grandparents etc. They are, very likely, real great people such as yourselves. Please don't give them a hard time because of my ignorance and stupidity

Toby Walker

Thanks for more support than Mike Tysons...LOL

Take care and keep a voice out there. This is the best music on the Planet.

Peace & Love

Toby

Do keep in touch toby@soulwalking.co.uk

'Well done is better than well said. Benjamin Franklin'

'You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.' - Winston Churchill

'In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.' Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

[ March 15, 2003, 08:22 AM: Message edited by: DJ Timmy Richardson ]

[Fletch]

If it smells like sh*t, looks like sh*t, then it is attorneys fees . graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

[Trev B.]

Sh%t,i've talk to the guy many times,such a shame the site is closed.Greed wins again.

R.I.P. soulwalking

Good Luck Toby

[Mah'chew]

Bullshit !

[RX]

i was just on it thursday trying to download a donnie song.
that was the best site ever next to this one.
i will severely miss it.

[RX]

i'm still flabbergasted...i'll be taking a loooong moment of silence over this.