[HANASHIR:10904] Songbooks and intellectual property

[Ethan Bueno de Mesquita <mesquita...>]

Hi,

While I appreciate and respect Adrian's hard work to make the Jewish world
more cognizant and respectful of intellectual property rights, isn't this a
bit far? Do we really want to be in a position where it is impossible for a
synagogue or camp to have a song book?!? What is it that we are to do in
order to teach music?

There are, I think, several issues here. First, is the practical. It seems
likely to me that almost everyone in the world who is writing Jewish music
is doing so (at least in part) because they want it to be sung in
synagogues, camps, schools etc. If said organizations cannot make song
sheets, this becomes impossible. So the point of writing the songs (other
than personal satisfaction) disappears. By trying to protect people's
intellectual property in this particular case (a protection which exists
both for moral reasons, and more causally, in order to insure that people
have proper incentives to create intellectual property) you may be
undermining their incentives to create in the first place. What Jewish
composer wouldn't want a synagogue to include their song lyrics in a
songbook, even if they weren't being paid for it. Especially when they don't
have commercially available songbooks themselves. But even then. It is
financially infeasible to think that every synagogue is going to buy say 50
songbooks of every artist from whom they would like to use a single song.
So, is there a solution here that does not involve the extreme Adrian
proposes of not having synagogue and camp songbooks, which seems like no
solution at all?

A second point, that may lead us some way towards a solution. I teach
courses at a university. When I want all of my students to use a particular
article I do not require that they all buy a copy of the journal or edited
volume in which it was published. Rather, I create a course pack (rather
like a songbook) with some "greatest hits" from various scholars in it. I am
able to have my students pay the publishers royalties for just the articles
being used. It is still expensive, but nowhere close to buying all the
journals and books. Is there a way to do something like this for music? I
know that ASCAP and similar  organizations exist, do they cover printed song
as well as recordings? Could there be differential prices for just lyrics,
lyrics and chords, lead sheets, full sheet music, etc.? Some problems arise.
What about composers who are not doing this full time and so cannot afford
to join such an organization? Should their music simply not be used because
to do so would violate their intellectual property rights even though they
make no solution available? Is it possible for a composer to simply sign
away their property rights so that anyone anywhere would be allowed to use
their songs given that it was for a religious or educational purpose and
they were properly acknowledged (I know I would be more than happy to do
this)?

Finally, I want to think about the money aspect of this for a moment. I am
not sure that professionalization of the form we are seeing is the best
thing for Jewish music. I have written about this in the past regarding
professional albums vs. the home recording and using the web for
distribution. I have nothing against professionalization, per se. But when
it gets to the point that synagogues, camps, and schools cannot use Jewish
music (or make song sheets, which amounts to the same thing) because of
intellectual property rights, it seems that something has gone wrong.
Doesn't everyone who writes this music want it sung? Wouldn't every single
one of us willingly let these organizations use our music for free? If not,
why not? I can't comprehend why someone would be in Jewish music (instead of
secular music) if their motivation was money above all else, even to the
point of restricting Jewish organizations from taking the practical steps
necessary to use their music.

Well this has become longer than I expected it to be. I'll be interested to
hear your thoughts. Sorry for rambling on.


best,

Ethan

*******************************
Ethan Bueno de Mesquita
Ph.D. Candidate

mesquita (at) fas(dot)harvard(dot)edu
www.fas.harvard.edu/~mesquita

Department of Government
Littauer Center, North Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA  02138
(617) 384-7303 (office)

"Can lack of bias ever compensate for absence of insight?"
        -Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel




>Well, my probably (unwelcome) advice is-don't do it at all, as it is
>probably flirting dangerously with the precepts of intellectual property
>rights in both Jewish and U.S. law. If you decide to go ahead, make sure
>that each and every song is properly attributed, with correct lyrics
>(and chords, if included.) If you aren't sure of an attribution, or sure
>it is in the public domain, then don't include the song. This list can
>provide a valuable resource for ascertaining the names of
>composers/copyright holders.

>Yes, we all know lots of synagogues, camps, Hillels, etc. that have
>in-house home-made songsters. And we certainly don't want to do anything
>to impede the imparting of Jewish learning and teaching through Jewish
>music. But there are ways this can be done while still following the
>precepts of intellectual property rights according to Jewish and U.S.
>law.

>Professionals can charge anywhere from $25-$50 per page for print-ready
>copy with music transcriptions, or $8-20 per page for just lyrics in
>Hebrew and English (print-ready) when they do this kind of work for
>legitimate publishers.

>Adrian
>Adrian A. Durlester, MTS
>E-mail: adrian (at) durlester(dot)com  URL:www.durlester.com
>Director of Education, Beth El Hebrew Congregation, Alexandria, VA
>Chair, CAJE 27, August 4-8, 2002, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX
>List Owner, hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org; Jewish Songleaders/Performers List
>Co-Owner, l-torah (at) shamash(dot)org; Liberal Torah Discussion List

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