[HANASHIR:10928] Fwd: copyright law & change of address

[erik contzius <contzius...>]

I've only cursorily followed the thread regarding songbooks and 
copyright law. Make no bones about it: What you may think is fair use 
may not be. I've posted this information before, but if you're 
interested in producing any sort of songbook, read this first:

http://www.mpa.org/church.html

You can also receive a pamphlet with the same information--it's 
called "Copyright Law and the Church Musician," and it is vital 
reading for any religious musician, regardless of religion.

How else do I know this? I invested a whole heap o' time, effort, and 
money into producing my own songbook with over 400 songs, 
professional illustrations, songs ranging from holiday to the sabbath 
to israeli and beyond. Due to some short-sightedness on my behalf, 
when it was presented to the lawyers, they said that without doing 
some significant work in getting the copyright permissions, i could 
be easily sued, with damages in the thousands (I have the letter if 
you'd really be interested). It's no joke, no matter what our 
opinions may be. The law is the law. You can't change it from the 
outside.

Thus, my songbook remains forever vaporware, until i get the gumption 
(wow! that's a real word! no spelling error...) to write a whole heap 
o' letters to a whole heap of musicians and composers.

On a more mundane note, my new e-mail address is: <contzius (at) yahoo(dot)com>.

Amen, v'Amen.
Cantor Erik L. F. Contzius
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Our new baby!
(Photos to be updated regularly):
http://community.webshots.com/user/eriklfc

Other sites of interest:
My synagogue: http://www.kenesethisrael.org/
My CD: http://loftrecordings.com/CDs/lrcd1011.htm
or here: http://soundswrite.com/swstore1.html#howexcellent
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


-- 
Cantor Erik L. F. Contzius
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Our new baby!
(Photos to be updated regularly):
http://community.webshots.com/user/eriklfc

Other sites of interest:
My synagogue: http://www.kenesethisrael.org/
My CD: http://loftrecordings.com/CDs/lrcd1011.htm
or here: http://soundswrite.com/swstore1.html#howexcellent
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++