Re: need help with recording credits and more

[meydele <meydele...>]

On 09/17/99 15:03:24 Wolf wrote:
>
>You can't attempt to copyright an arrangement in the hopes of claiming writer
>credits.
>An arrangement itself cannot be copyright unless the song in question is
>already in the Public Domain.  Then you can attach your name to it.
>
As a former copyright lawyer, I have to clarify, as Wolf doesn't have it quite 
right (sorry, 
Wolf!).  Any NEW material is automatically protected by copyright upon creation 
- whether the 
arranger has the legal authority to create a new version of someone else's work 
is another issue 
entirely.  The Copyright Office will not accept registration of an arrangement 
without evidence 
that it is authorized by the owner of the copyright in the underlying work 
(i.e., the original 
composer has given permission for the arrangement, which in legal parlance is a 
"derivative 
work") - but that doesn't mean it's not copyrighted.  The arrangement - 
authorized or not, legal 
or illegal - is the property of the arranger, and can't be reproduced or taken 
for use by 
someone else without permission.  No matter what, the arranger is NEVER the 
author of the 
underlying song he or she did not write originally.  Proper credits are "music 
by So-and-So, 
arranged by Me". 

I don't want to turn this into a legal discussion list - I don't practice 
copyright law (or any 
law, for that matter) anymore.  But I don't want list members to have 
misinformation. 

Shira Lerner



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