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All original content © by Tom Smith.

The World's Fastest Filker, tomsmithonline.com, SmithTunes, SmithTones, Snarlings, Filk-In-The-Blanks, Fenton, Death Sheep From Hell, Fagan, Rood, Olga, "What Would Fenton Do?", "WWFD?", and SmithSwag are trademarked and copyrighted by Tom Smith. Pretzel Productions, the Pretzel Note logo, Deep Fried Lemurs, Laugh Damn You, WTMI, and True Tales Of Da Huskie Bear (and all prominent characters therefrom) are trademarked and copyrighted by Pretzel Productions. All rights reserved.

The Last Hero On Earth, The Waffle, Maxicron, Amazing Gracie, Fenderbender, Multiplex, Dark Sun, Fafnyr, Shield Maiden, Macroman, CompTroll, Princess Alishaya, Queen Silvonia, Dr. Thaddeus Mallevo, Sir Wilfred P. Huffelbaggins III, Kill-O-Tron, Pirate Ninjas from Dino Island, Sis Boom Ba, The Crossing Guard, and all other characters and likenesses thereof ™ & © 2005 by Tom Smith. All rights reserved.

Tom Smith and Pretzel Productions have no affiliation with 24hourcomics.com.

Songs released under the iTom RSS feed are protected by a Creative Commons Noncommercial Share-Alike license.

All trademarks and/or copyrighted materials owned by persons, agencies, or entities other than Tom Smith or Pretzel Productions are invoked for satirical purposes only, and remain the properties of those persons, agencies, or entities. Challenge to trademark or copyright should be neither implied nor construed.

The lyrics for Filk-In-The-Blanks, the content of messages sent through TSO e-Greetings, and any other user-modifiable interactive content on this site are solely the responsibility of the user. Tom Smith and Pretzel Productions cannot be held responsible for any damage or distress caused by those features.

Technical Credits

This web site was created with Dreamweaver 4, except for the intro movie, which was created with SwishMax.

The CSS code used for the main page was adapted from code placed in the public domain by Alex Robinson in an article for Position Is Everything.

An Important Statement From Tom Regarding Digital Management Rights (DRM)

There is no file protection on any of the MP3s or albums sold by TSO. I don't believe in such technology for two reasons: I believe that you are entitled to use and back up your songs as you see fit, so long as you don't violate copyright (more in a moment), and because such technologies are expensive, intrusive, cumbersome, and they don't even frickin' work.

I am a working musician. I make music because I love to make music, and getting paid for doing what I love is cool beyond belief. That said, I know that, in these wild and heady days of peer-to-peer networks, of BitTorrent and the reborn Napster, some people don't want to pay for music.

In a similar vein, some people have recorded some of my shows, or copied some of my albums, and sold them to other people. Not even "reasonable duplication costs" of a dollar or two for materials and time -- ten, twelve bucks a pop. Making profit from my music.

I know, as a matter of practicality, that I can't really stop a determined person from swiping my music. I'm not appealing to that person -- I'm appealing to you, a reasonable soul who downloads some stuff from eDonkey or Kazaa, and who has a niggling doubt in the back of your mind regarding the legality of file sharing but doesn't think big record companies deserve any more damn money. Y'see, I am not a big record company. It's just me, and my music pays the bills -- as in, rent, food, etc. I don't want to rip you off... but I don't want to be ripped off, either.

So, if you have some of my music that you've downloaded without paying for it, and if you like it, I'd appreciate it if you'd consider dropping a little cash into my Virtual Open Guitar Case (on the Buy Stuff page), or perhaps even buying the file or the album the song was on. You will be helping to support independent music in the most direct possible way -- by paying the musician.

Thanks.

Another Important Statement, This Time About Radio Royalties

My work is not registered with any body that collects royalties for radio airplay. I'm simply not that big a deal in the greater music world, and I have been played on mainstream radio less than fifty times total, all but four on The Dr. Demento Show.

Online is another story.

There are numerous podcasts that play my stuff fairly regularly, and some fan videos out there as well. I find this immensely flattering, and I thank all of you for caring enough to use my work. Nevertheless, given my various desires to (a) stick one in the eye of the RIAA, (b) not screw over any broadcasters, and (c) not be ripped off, it has become necessary to explicitly state how my work can be used. (Don't worry, it won't be that bad.)

Songs written for iTom and The FuMP are released under version 2.5 of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial ShareAlike license. Basically, you can distribute the songs, remix 'em, make videos out of 'em, whatever you want, so long as (a) I am credited ("Words and Music by Tom Smith - released under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial ShareAlike license"), (b) you don't do it for profit, and (c) you release any remix or video or whatever under the same license. I would like to hear about it -- hey, maybe I'll love it. :)

Other songs I have written were released with more traditional copyrights, although I may end up revising all of them to CCANS 2.5 in the near future, but the same rules pretty much apply: I get credit, you don't make money. The three exceptions to this are the recordings Who Let Him In Here?, Domino Death, and Tom Smith And His Digital Acoustic Compilation, to which I grant no rights at all... because I don't own the recordings. For that, you'll have to contact Dodeka Records, Ltd. Sorry I have to be that way about it, but I do.

Now.

Regarding radio, especially internet radio: There are some truly obnoxious machinations by the RIAA to collect royalties they aren't even authorized to collect. It's complex and strange and damned presumptuous of them. (You can learn more at SaveOurInternetRadio.com.) I am in the process of discovering what I have to do to make sure the RIAA never gets their hands on a dime of any money they say is intended for me minus a small collection charge. Back off, you ghouls. This is between me and my audience.

I specifically grant radio shows and podcasters the right to use my work in their shows without paying me a royalty, so long as it is (a) a legally-obtained copy of the song, (b) played in its entirety, and (c) I am credited (e.g., "That was by Tom Smith, and you can get more of his music at tomsmithonline.com").

If a show normally does pay royalties, I will of course gratefully accept them -- e-mail me and we'll talk. But I am more interested in the promulgation and distribution of my music, and in the survival of internet radio and podcasting, than I am in the not-very-big-bucks I am likely to receive in royalties. I mean, yes, I want to make money... but scrounging for every scrap of bottom-line profit, at the expense of other people, is not the way to do it.

It's a different world out there, and I think we can all be part of it together.

Disclaimer

Some material on this site is intended for a mature audience. Deal.

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