Grateful Dead Music Forum

[rant]
Hi, I performed with a band called halfstep regularly from 1995 to 2002. taking a small hiatus as they say, due to drug addiction and the jailing of our bass player. (I was the equipment driver, and got in the band van accident, bass to the head blah blah,,,,) we have been working and releasing old material getting to getther writing new material. find the dudes got their shit straight..get some gigs going,... and find a band called halfstep is coming into glens falls, ny to perform. a band we have 2 cd's by of that name, and our website in the wayback machine goes back to 1999. with published copywrites from 97 on 2 cd of original material.
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www ... /~halfstep
check it out. we are traded on the etree archive, furthurnet booked to perform at ny state harvest fest. it is not like we dried up and went away, we are not rich. we dont have free lawyers coming out of our arses. but there must be someway to stop them.
we are http://halfstep.org
they are [url]http://www.halfstepgd,com[/url]
i did not work all that time to have someone come and just snatch up a commercially traded name?
many of our band members (of course with our prodding) e-mailed them and responses were quite cruel

From: Penny P <adkmountaingirl>
Date: Aug 16, 2007 6:24 PM
Subject: WAY WRONG
To: [email protected]

Please stop using the Halfstep name.....it's taken! Playing a show in their hometown is way wrong. They are loved and you know your wrong for what your doing! Instant karma's gonna get you, slap you right in the face! RYEBREAD!

note the adk it = adirondack, of which one of the band members claims to be from. and If he does hail from there, I don;t see how he could not have heard of us. we were the band that would not go away.. heh.
their response?
:note they publish their e-mail addy... the above does not

On 8/16/07, info <info> wrote:

Mountaingirl? that's original! Halfstep is comprised of 5 honest, hardworking, upright citizens who've never heard of another band called HalfStep! To call us liars, cheats, tell us "karma is gonna slap us in the face" is about as ignorant as it gets! So much for free thinking, brotherly love! Tell you and all your cronies that we never knew of another band called HalfStep! We were invited by the club Hotshots to host an Afterparty followingthe Phil show. What? No other bands can play Glens Falls? Fuck that! We'll be there with bells on, and we're gonna rock the joint with or without you and your dozen or so ignorant friends who make blind threats!

I am honest. AND I worked very hard. Being a ful time musician is hard. Of course we are NOT saying no gig for you man, NO we are saying you got to change you name, we had is way before. To try and take it is unkind.

I do not feel good about this, I hate being angry, I hate confrontation, (and hey I an an honorably discharge usmc sgt.. and I don;t like confrontation.. ) but it really is a one sided issues imo. they admit to being only around for 4 years to another e-mail. I am not sure what to do. So I am putting this out their in the ether. thank you [/rant]

All things considered . . . . didnt you lift the name from a Hunter/Dead song anyway? I think you would have had a better argument if it was an entirely unique name. Sorry man, thats just how I feel, and RYEBREAD.

Hate to say it, but I kind of agree. It's not an "original" name, per se. If it was (i.e. "Green Day", "Phish", "The Doors", etc.) it would be a totally different story. Are you guys a Dead cover band? Are they? I've seen a few other Dead cover bands with the same names, albeit in different states so it's never an issue, but still....something like this was bound to happen eventually.

Hope you guys can resolve the issue peacefully. Good luck.

Trademark the name. It may cost a few hundred dollars, but if it's available, do it. Before they do. For a band name, you must trademark it, not copyright it. And you have to specify for what purpose - live performance and/or recordings. You may have to pay a seperate fee for each purpose, but it's an easy way to avoid this type of issue.

Also, a half step is a musical term, so it wouldn't necessarilly be copied from Hunter/Garcia (any more than they copied from general music theory).

My band was in the same situation once. We lost our name because it was easier to think of a (better) name than to hire lawyers. The other band already had lawyers, who informed us that their band had trademarked the name. But what was interesting was this... the lawyer told me that before they even check to see if the trademark is available, they look to see if the .com web url is available. If it's being used for something unrelated altogether, they will probably choose an alternate url and trademark the name anyway. But if another band has the .com url, they will usually not continue using the name even if it's not trademarked. You have a .org name, but it's more direct than theirs. The same concept probably applies now with MySpace - if you can get the MySpace domain and get listed first in their music search. MySpace.com/halfstep is taken by a band that hasn't been around since at least 2004. Not really anyway to get the url though unless you contact MySpace possibly. You could try MySpace.com/halfstepband or halfstepmusic. Then just promote your site and get a ton more friends than that other band. They are on there - MySpace.com/halfstepgd They seem like a cover band, so it's not like they will probably release anything on cd. Your main concern will probably be competing with their name for shows.

Also - Halfstep.com is up for sale by the owner but you have to make an offer. Those types of deals usually go for higher amounts than a completely free and clear domain name, but it may be worth making an offer.

I understand this means a lot to you, and I don't want to diminsh it, but I can't resist my Spinal Tap urge:

Nigel Tufnel: "And then, we looked at each other and said..."
David St. Hubbins: "Said, look, why not?"
Nigel: "...we might as well join up. You know?"
David: "So, we became the Originals."
Nigel: "Right."
David: "And, uh, we had to change our name, actually."
Nigel: "Well, there was another group, in the east end, called the Originals and we had to rename ourselves."
David: "the New Originals."
Nigel: "the New Originals."
David: "Yeah."
Nigel: "And they became..."
David: "...the Regulars. They changed their name back to the Regulars. And we thought we could go back to the Originals, but what's the point?"

owmmusic wrote:You could try MySpace.com/halfstepband or halfstepmusic. Then just promote your site and get a ton more friends than that other band. They are on there - MySpace.com/halfstepgd They seem like a cover band, so it's not like they will probably release anything on cd. Your main concern will probably be competing with their name for shows.

Getting more friends than myspace.com/halfstepgd shouldn't be too hard. They only have one friend, Tom. And there is no music on their page. It sucks really. I think a good old fasioned myspace ass-whooping is in order here.

we do have a my space
http://www.myspace.com/half_step
they are a cover band, we have produced to cd's of original material. 1st one 1996.
we started as a cover band true but that was in 1991, once i joined we had more than enough original material to produce cd's of original material. both cds are copywrite protected
oh yeah and halfstep.com?
i made an offer. they want $25,000
damn that is harsh. Maybe i was bad in the lot one day. pretty bizzarre kharma coming down on me...

Unfortunately, your myspace page doesn't appear to be a music/artist page. You should do a google search on how to convert it to one. MySpace used to have a way to convert, but I heard you can't anymore. If not, maybe consider starting a new one so that your band turns up in the search results on the music page.

cuznt wrote:we do have a my space
http://www.myspace.com/half_step
they are a cover band, we have produced to cd's of original material. 1st one 1996.
we started as a cover band true but that was in 1991, once i joined we had more than enough original material to produce cd's of original material. both cds are copywrite protected
oh yeah and halfstep.com?
i made an offer. they want $25,000
damn that is harsh. Maybe i was bad in the lot one day. pretty bizzarre kharma coming down on me...

They want 25,000 what ? Jesus H freaking Christ ... myslef I wouldn't really give a damn, the strong will survive, and odds are if they are a cover band nothing is going to come of them all that much, I only know of one really successful cover band and thats DSO and I won't even pay to see them anymore, no danger in it, it's all been done before ... keep pn keepin on

Dude thats really lame, I wouldnt worry too much about it though, because the karma will come back to them. Always does and always will. Btw, their link doesnt work (see, its already come)

well they're playin after the phil show, you should get phil to lay down the law.

There are only so many GD tribute names to go around. There are at least three "Uncle John's Band"s, two "Shakedown Street"s, two "Deadbeats"'s.... etc etc. I keep expecting another Ramblin' Rose to pop up, but none so far.

I also have a band that has played JGB-themed shows (albeit infrequently) as "Mystery Cats" since 1999... well about two years ago, up springs a new band in CA that calls itself the Mystery Cats, playing Jerry material! But so far they have stayed in CA to the best of my knowledge... and we haven't used the name since about 2004... still, we weren't quite done with it yet!

The problem really begins when a band with the same name becomes active in the same gigging area as another... which apparently they have. The cool thing for them to do might be to slightly alter their billing to at least differentiate themselves by stating their city of origin, like "New York City's Halfstep" (or wherever they hail from) That is, if they had heard of you before investing in promotion... imho you guys should try to come to some sort of understanding... and realize that its just a name... do the best you can to inform your fans that it's NOT you playing that gig.

There's even a band out there nowadays calling themselves the Warlocks- and they don't play anything remotely Dead-like.

Whats that line....?


Guess it doesnt matter ANYWAY


be your self dude. It will work out. And if this yourself then,your in for some frustration.

You know why the warlocks changed their name don't ya?

Make a myspace music page pronto and get some songs on it so i can add them to my profile. Get on it son!

augustdupree wrote:Make a myspace music page pronto and get some songs on it so i can add them to my profile. Get on it son!

http://www.myspace.com/half_step
songs have been for sale through snocap.
and cd baby