[jewishshulmusic] Copyright Law and Jewish Law (fwd)

[I. Oppenheim <i.oppenheim...>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 15:17:39 -0600
From: Fred Blumenthal <xd2fabl (at) us(dot)ibm(dot)com>
Reply-To: jewishshulmusic (at) yahoogroups(dot)com
To: jewishshulmusic (at) yahoogroups(dot)com
Subject: [jewishshulmusic] Copyright Law and Jewish Law

I'm familiar with copyright law - U.S. copyright law, anyway - and
heartily agree that creative artists deserve remuneration for their
efforts.  But these arguments fail to address my circumstances or the
circumstances of many others like me.

The example given was a recording donated by a band to a library.
Depending on the kind (and quality) of music that the band plays, there's
commercial demand for it.  The music that I'm interested in giving away -
and the repertoire central to the Internet site that's sponsoring this
chat - is liturgical synagogue music.  I also write non-liturgical
synagogue music (eg Chanukah arrangements) and art music in "academic"
style.

I'm not familiar with a commercial market for this music to compare to
what a band would play. When I write new pieces for piano, organ or
orchestral instruments, or when I set non-religious texts, I also offer to
send copies to potential performers without charge.  If I didn't, my music
wouldn't get performed, and that's a great enough difficulty as it is. No,
I'm not an amateur musician - in fact, my college composition teacher,
Karel Husa, won a Pulitzer Prize in music composition the year after I
graduated.

I'm paid to direct a synagogue choir, but writing music isn't really a
part of the job description, it's one of the ways I make singing in my
choir a unique experience.  So I have to hope that some payoff comes as a
consequence of the music being performed, and I need to pursue practical
paths to getting it performed and heard.  The amount of money I miss in
royalties, in the meantime, is probably less than I spend photocopying and
mailing the music.

Again, the commercial appeal of the bands mentioned - the one that gave a
recording to a library and the one whose music was used in a low-budget
film - probably far exceeds the commercial appeal of straight-laced
synagogue music.

Fred Blumenthal
xd2fabl (at) us(dot)ibm(dot)com

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