Piano World Home Page Forums [PW-MRCP] Legal/Copyright Issues

<h1>Piano World Member's Recording Compilation Project</h1>
<h2>Volume 1</h2>
The idea originated from this thread .

The Piano World Member's Recording Compilation Project (PW-MRCP) aims to create a compilation of recordings by Piano World members. The deliverable of this project will be a set of professionally pressed CD's containing recordings submitted by Piano World members.

(Please see Project Plan Outline for an overview of the Project.)

<h2>Legal/Copyright Issues</h2>

This thread is setup to address the legal and copyright issues related to the Project.

There are two issues that need to be addressed:

1. A "Release Form" that members who submit recordings need to sign to allow their recordings to be included in the Compilation CD's. I can provide a draft that I used for a similar project in the past. But I can also use some help. If a lawyer-member can help take a look at it (pro-bono) to ensure fairness to members and adequate protection for Piano World, so much the better. Please contact me if you can help. I am thinking that, bascially, the "Release Form" should be simple, should acknowledge that the member who made the submission retain all rights to the material he/she submitted, and states that the member allows the submitted material to be used royalty-free, once, for the Project.
2. Copyright concerns -- while most classical published more than 75 years ago are in the public domain, more modern works may still be protected by copyrights and may not be suitable for inclusion in the Compilation. This thread is setup so that PW members can query and discuss such copyright issues.

I can point to http://www.ascap.com/ as a resource. But I know little else beyond that. People who know more please chime in.

Note: The "Release Form" will need to contain your real name and signature because it is a piece of legal document. However, that does not mean your real name will be made public if you submit a recording. Unless you want your real name to appear in the CD or the booklet, I see no reason why we cannot simply list your Piano World screen-name and not disclose your real name.

http://logosfoundation.org/copyleft/public_domain_composers.html

Aftrer googling around a bit, I believe music is copywright protected for 70 years after the compsers death, not 70 years after the work is published.

I looked up Maurice Ravel in the ASCAP link that Axtremus provided.
His work is still under protection.
So is the work of Rachmaninoff, Bartok, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Shoenberg.

While I am always careful to respect other musicians' rights to their works I must admit to being very blase about my own. I have hundreds of original scores and recordings which I have always dished out to anyone who wanted them. I earn my living through other means, and I consider it highly unlikely anything of mine is going to set the world on fire.

What on earth constitutes proof of originality anyway ? A published score ? An old handwritten score signed by me with a little "c" in a circle on it ? A recording ? Somebody else's statement that I wrote something back in goodness knows when ?

I remember once asking my solicitor in passing about these things and his answer was so complicated and nebulous that unless somebody brazenly made a heck of a lot of money out of something of mine I'd be better to forget it all and share my music, which is more or less what I have done.

Not necessarily. Copyright terms aren't consistent. The current copyright terms only apply to works dating back so far. I can't remember the exact date, but I want to say it is in the seventies. Earlier works could be public domain. I'm pretty sure most, if not all, music by Rachmaninoff and Ravel is public domain. Various works by the other composers are definitely public domain. Anything written before 1922 is public domain and those composers certainly had works written during that time.

Woah! I just checked out that site before I submitted my post. The site is totally wrong about most of those composers. I think Mahler died in 1911, which means everything he wrote predates the 1922 cutoff point.

I should mention that I'm not a lawyer.

Hmm, I was thinking about submitting Gershwins "Rhapsody in blue" with my school orchestra, but I guess that if the works of Ravel, Schoenberg etc are protected, then so are Gershwins

Some one sent a private message asking whether his copyrights will be protected if he submits a recording of his original composition. The answer is YES.

When you submit a recording, you give Piano World ONLY a one-time, royalty-free right to include that recording (just the recording, not the composition) in the Piano World CD compilation.

Some one else asked about whether he can include the score of his original composition (say, as a PDF file). The answer is also YES. You will then be giving Piano World ONLY a one-time, royalty-free right to include that PDF file (just the file, not the composition) in the Piano World CD compilation.

So, yeah, your rights are protected.