| Author |
Topic: Can you give away your own performance? |
RB Jones
From:
Burlingame, California, USA
|
Posted 20 Nov 2003 4:49 pm |
|
Here's a question about copyright. I want to perform a copyrighted song and record it to CD or MP3 file. I want to give it away to anybody who wants it. I make no money. Do I still have to send the publisher of the sheet music a fee for every copy I give away? Or do I just buy a copy of the sheet music and I've done my part under the law?
RB Jones |
|
|
 |
Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
|
Posted 20 Nov 2003 5:57 pm
|
|
For what it's worth (not much, I'm sure), I had a Librarian explain to me that a copywrite violation occurs when one copies it; and is compounded when one sells and/or distributes it.
Excerpts are acceptable since they are in-part "savings" of a key phrase, a thought, or theme. Doing so in its entirity, on the other hand is viewed as "stealing" another's work without proper compensation.
I'd be hesitant to do what you mention simply because "YOUR INTENT" is to copy and distribute a copywrited material; the intellectual property of another.
Am I correct? Or wrong on this point? |
|
|
|
Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
|
Posted 20 Nov 2003 6:24 pm
|
|
| FWIW, the Harry Fox agency website speaks of payment for the number of copies "distributed"; it doesn't say the number "sold". And you don't pay per single copy; the minimum payment is associated with distributing 500 copies. |
|
|
|
Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
|
Posted 21 Nov 2003 3:14 am
|
|
And the the answer is YES, you need a Mechanical License .
Unless you are performing your own song which is self published.
We've been here before.
The Mechanical License is required to manufacture copies for distribution as Jim mentions above.
It doesn't matter if you:
Sell them
Give them away
File them Away
Throw them Away
Melt them eventually
use them as Fish Bait
Stack em' in a pile and look at them
It's $42 for up to 500 copies..it's a bargain to be legal..
It will take less than 5 minutes and a Credit Card to get the license from the Harry Fox website.
have fun
T[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 21 November 2003 at 03:18 AM.] |
|
|
|
David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
|
Posted 21 Nov 2003 12:31 pm
|
|
In france you can't join the legal entity that
does this function unless you are :
1. already distrbuted on someone elses acredited cd
2 your music is played 5 times in an acredted venue and it is registerd on the playlist,
or on radio and officially on the play ist.
3 you take a written composing test to prove you know how to compose and arrange. We are talking an hour or more test. Like a music school final exame for 4th year students.
In theory you can't get a duplication house to make copies for you with out this paperwork in hand, and you can't get the paperwork with out the cd.s
A VERY catch-22 situation.
So $45 to Fox seem like a wlak in the park to me.
One of our manouche guitarists is a member of this. But this buracracy makes the department of motor vehicles seem like a day trip to Coney Island.[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 21 November 2003 at 12:33 PM.] |
|
|
|
Rick McDuffie
From:
Benson, North Carolina, USA
|
Posted 21 Nov 2003 3:00 pm
|
|
| I LOVE America! |
|
|
|
Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
|
Posted 22 Nov 2003 2:39 am
|
|
Well David..thank God France has great Wine and Cheese !
But I guess you're saying don't attempt to write a song while your drinking Wine and eating Cheese.. 
TP[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 22 November 2003 at 02:39 AM.] |
|
|
|
