A LETTER TO BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN ( please deliver my message to Mr. Springsteen ! )

Dear Mr. Springsteen,

My name is Fabio Del Toro. I am the president of the Circolo di Cultura Musicale "Sing Sing”, a non-profit organization which aims to develop and divulge musical awareness and culture in Siena and Arezzo ( Italy ).
I do not know if you are aware of the fact that you and other artists are currently suing me, and the association that I represent, for $1.000.000. This matter has been going on since April 2000.

I cannot believe that an artist like you can be opposed to what we are doing and I have the feeling that our organization might have been misrepresented to you.
I am politely asking you to read this letter in order to give you a closer look to the matter and draw your own conclusions. I of course know that you are a very busy person, but I believe that you also know the importance of music and the positive influence it has.

I will try to explain in a few lines what we do and who we are:
I presume that you are familiar with the Public Library system of New York. We function in a similar way. We have members, who in return of an annual membership fee and other voluntary contributions, have access to a variety of music and other multimedia, which encompasses mainstream and less known artists. They can listen to the music in the Circolo’s premises or take it home, listen to it and return it. We are not a for-profit business who follows a “Blockbuster” model.

We do not understand why you, other artists, and record companies have the impression that we are big criminals who are causing immense damages to artists and record companies. Our mission is to give access to music to everyone in a country where access to music has become a privilege for the few who can afford it.

Since you are touring Italy, the association I represent and I would like to have a chance to hear from you or, even better, meet you in an informal way to show what we really are doing. Should your schedule allow it, Mr. Springsteen, you are warmly invited to visit us and can judge by yourself if what we are doing deserves to be “punished” or if it is a legitimate way to give access to music to the people. Knowing the artist you are, and the cultural background you have, we are confident that you will not ignore us.

We want to assure you, that we by no means want to include a possible contact with you in the ongoing legal dispute. We are a little association with little means and have a giant adversary ready to crush us. Our only hope is a little humanity, talking to the artists and asking them if it is really their intent to fight us, or if it is a battle started by the record companies without their knowledge. The right to see our accusers or a way to contact them has been denied to us in court. I don’t want to bother you with all the details, unless are interested in this matter. I will gladly provide further details, like a copy of your power of attorney, to prove that this is not a stratagem of a fan or deranged person to meet you.

Thank you for your attention, Mr. Springsteen. I hope that we will have a chance to talk or meet.

More info @ :

http://www.singsing.org

http://www.culturale.it

http://www.circoloculturale.org/
Yours truly,

Fabio Del Toro