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Topic: Song licensing |
Jim Phelps
From:
Mexico City, Mexico
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Posted 17 Apr 2005 12:47 pm |
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I'm doing an instrumental CD for sale from my website and locally here in Mexico. My website is hosted on a U.S. server.
The information I've found so far says I must get a mechanical license for each song, the info websites say in Mexico I'm to get it from the Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de Musica, but their website isn't even online.
Anyone know more about this? Are song licenses the same for instrumentals?
I'm beginning to think I should just make up, I mean "write".... a few instrumentals of my own...
www.jimphelps.com
[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 17 April 2005 at 01:58 PM.] |
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Tom Mortensen
From:
Nashville TN
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Jim Phelps
From:
Mexico City, Mexico
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Posted 17 Apr 2005 1:23 pm
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Thanks Tom, but I tried that first and already ran into a dead-end.
They say start at songfile.com. Songfile doesn't do mechanical licenses for outside the U.S. When I go through the licensing screens, it asks if the product will be manufactured in the U.S. or outside, and distributed inside or outside the U.S. When I select "outside" it says licenses not available.
Another site steered me to the SACM mentioned above, but their site's down. Probably have to call them.
So I know this much already, but was hoping someone here could maybe tell me more. |
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Jim Phelps
From:
Mexico City, Mexico
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Posted 17 Apr 2005 1:33 pm
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| . [This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 18 April 2005 at 08:40 PM.] |
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Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
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Posted 17 Apr 2005 4:18 pm
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| Jim. Ask Mike Perlowin. He had to it for both his CD's. I'm sure he will jump in soon. |
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Dr. Hugh Jeffreys
From:
Southaven, MS, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2005 5:03 pm
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| I've always used the Fox Agency, either by phone or eM. They gave me no problems with the songs or in taking my money. Also check out Disc Makers.com. They offer free info on the subject. ----j---- |
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Jim Phelps
From:
Mexico City, Mexico
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Posted 18 Apr 2005 2:21 pm
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Update:
Thanks for your help everyone.
I've tried all the websites mentioned and they either have a link to songfiles.com (only works for U.S.) or say that for Mexico I have to get the license through the Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de Musica. Their website is up (today) so I checked it out and did a search on Panhandle Rag and it's not in their list. We called them on the phone and the info guy was out but will be back soon and we'll ask him what's up.
Original and/or Public Domain songs are starting to look better all the time. Too bad all the PD songs are about 200 years old, and sound like it.[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 18 April 2005 at 03:21 PM.] |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 18 Apr 2005 4:48 pm
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No problem, Jim. Just use this songlist for your recording and you'll be fine (all PD):
Oh, Susannah!
She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain (When She Comes)
John Henry
De Camptown Races
Over the River and Through the Woods
Pop Goes the Weasel
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Cockles and Mussels
It's gonna be a HUGE hit, Jim. I can just feel it... 
[This message was edited by Jim Cohen on 18 April 2005 at 05:49 PM.] |
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Jim Phelps
From:
Mexico City, Mexico
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Posted 18 Apr 2005 5:19 pm
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| Thanks, Jimbeaux, those are hot tunes...should I do them on E9, C6, or my lapsteel? |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 18 Apr 2005 5:42 pm
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| Funny thing is one time I went to the island of Cyprus and stayed in a Hilton or somesuch fancy hotel. There was a guy playing lobby piano and ALL his songs were these. He must have heard there'd be some Americans in the hotel that night and so he pulled out his "Favorite American Folksongs" book, and proceeded to play them all, fully expecting to thoroughly delight the crowd. I never saw some many rolling eyeballs in my life.... LOL |
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Jim Phelps
From:
Mexico City, Mexico
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Posted 18 Apr 2005 7:05 pm
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 Poor guy.... good intentions but a couple hundred years behind. |
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Tom Olson
From:
Spokane, WA
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Posted 18 Apr 2005 7:06 pm
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| Maybe he was worried about getting blind-sided with performance royalties if he played anything that wasn't "PD"(?) |
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Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
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Posted 19 Apr 2005 7:57 pm
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| Maybe he should have played the Jerry Lee Lewis rocking version of Old Black Joe. |
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Webb Kline
From:
Orangeville, PA
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Posted 19 Apr 2005 8:16 pm
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Harry Fox is not always the answer. When I wrote my book, I wanted to put some of Keith and Melody Green's lyrics in my book and they couldn't find the songs I wanted.
Melody said that when she wrote her book, she had to get permission to use her own lyrics (how wrong is that??)and she had a hard time finding out where to get them. I finally found out and I'm still not sure it was worth the hassle.
It's a greedy messed up world.
[This message was edited by Webb Kline on 19 April 2005 at 09:16 PM.] |
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Jim Phelps
From:
Mexico City, Mexico
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Posted 20 Apr 2005 3:56 pm
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Yep, as far as legalities, many things don't make sense.
My wife is a big Beatles and Paul McCartney fan, says she heard Yoko Ono wouldn't let Paul sing "Yesterday" at a concert, apparently Ono owns the rights to it, athough McCartney and Lennon both wrote it. Guess that's one that Michael Jackson didn't manage to snag.
How wrong is that?
Well we called the SACM in Mexico City, they said to call another place for info on how to get a mechanical license, then that place said to send an email back to the SACM with the title of the CD, where it'll be produced, the songs, and the selling price.
We just sent the email this afternoon, will call in the morning to make sure they got it. If they don't want a small fortune, that'll be nice.
Well, we'll see.
If they want too much $$$, then, that list of Jimbeaux's really isn't so bad... 
I'm not much of a songwriter, but I can learn.
[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 20 April 2005 at 05:05 PM.] |
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Bob Hickish
From:
Port Ludlow, Washington, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 21 Apr 2005 5:23 am
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Jim
We did a CD for an old fiddler upstairs
in my barn . what we did is send the master
to a outfit to produce the copies , and they did
all the copyright research and made all the
arrangements . it was only something like 3 or 4
cents for the right to use a song . I don't know
if this will help or not , but you could do it all here
in the states and just order the number copies you
want .
This CD we did was about saving this old mans
music stile , he is 88 and the back up was a bass
and guitar and there was no one under 75 on the
recording .
I'm looking forward to your CD - love that P H Rag
Bob |
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