Re: Copyrights & Royalties

[BarMusProd <BarMusProd...>]

Dear Eliezer,

In a message dated 11/3/02 9:17:40 AM, zelwel (at) attbi(dot)com writes:

>I'm working on a project which will involve samples and cut-ups of old
>Jewish music. Most of it is long out-of-print 78's that have been 
antholigized
>by various people in research, some of whom are actually list members.

I am not a lawyer, but I have studied copyright a lot over the years.

Are you saying that you are excerpting your work from reissues off of CDs, or 
do you have the original out-of-print 78s? If you are excerpting off of CDs 
or compilation recordings made in 1974 or after, you are already in violation 
of the copyrights of these sound recordings (1974 was the first year a 
limited protection was placed on the sound recordings themselves; the 1976 
law, which went into effect in 1978, covers them more fully with form SR--the 
circle P symbol you see on all recordings today). However, if you are using 
properly researched CDs for your source material, then someone else has done 
the research for you. Check the booklet for permissions for the music that 
you are using in addition to receiving permission from the reissuing company.

>Now I know that as a 'DJ'  (the new Jewish Fatboy Slim ;-) I can get away
>with most anything in live performance- I'm just playing records for the
>people.

Well, no, that's not true either. All recordings played publicly in the U.S. 
are covered by one of the three performance societies: ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC. 
If you are playing for the people, as you say, in a venue that does not have 
a blanket license for public performance of music, you are again in violation 
of the copyright law and you are personally responsible for paying the proper 
royalties for each recording that you play under the society's aegis (most of 
the time this is not a problem, as most public venues purchase annual blanket 
licenses). But if it is a questionable venue, you need to check in advance 
that these venues you are performing at have blanket licenses. It's like 
playing recorded music in a restaurant, either live or off of CDs (or even 
off of a radio station through the speakers). The restaurant must have a 
blanket license (for which it pays an annual fee) to play copyrighted 
recorded (or live) music for the paying public. You are using someone else's 
creative effort for your profit, therefore you or the venue (most often the 
venue) must pay for that privilege.

 My question is actually about publication i.e. actually creating
>new electro cut-and-paste work based on what I've done & putting it on
>a CD or web site. Is this going to involve tons of research to find out
>who-all's estate gets owed money (I can imagine the distribution issues
>can get quite complicated & I don't really want to get too involved in
>that- I'm not a big record company and I can't hire lawyers) or is there
>a one-stop-shop where I can look all this info up? Maybe the real question
>is how can I easily find out what's public domain and what isn't
>
Generally speaking copyrighted material published before 1923 is public 
domain in the U.S. If it is published from 1923 to 1977, generally speaking 
(if the copyright were renewed properly) it is 95 years from the original 
date of the copyright (28 years initial term plus 67 years renewal). Today, 
it is the life of the author plus 70 years (it was 50 years but Sonny Bono 
[and the publishing industry] pushed for 20 more--this is currently under 
review by the Supreme Court).

There is no "easy" way unfortunately to research this stuff. I would first 
try the online data bases of ASCAP and BMI (I would be surprised if any of 
the older Jewish music would be licensed by SESAC). The Library of Congress 
might be a resource for older copyrights (I don't know how much is currently 
online and available). The central clearing house for all of this--the 
one-stop shop you may be looking for--is the Music Publisher's Association 
"Harry Fox Agency" in New York. They have a massive data base of music and 
often even multiple listings specifically by performer. I don't know if you 
have to agree in advance to use their services to access their data base. 
They can license most anything except dramatic performances, I would think.

Sorry to not be more positive. Put yourself in the creator's (and/or 
copyright holder's) shoes. Would you be pleased if someone used or even 
excerpted your creative work without paying you for the privilege? I don't 
want to get into a philosophical discussion here about dead composers and 
lyricists, bloodsucking record companies that really own the copyright, or 
don't even exist anymore, and all of the other standard arguments about using 
"old" music. Someone has put out time and money to make all of those 
wonderful old recordings available to all of us today. Not all of them are 
altruists, of course, but they must have seen some value in keeping this 
music alive. Their compilation work is under copyright, even if the original 
music is not any more.

Best wishes,
Steve

Steve Barnett
Composer/Arranger/Producer
Barnett Music Productions
BarMusProd (at) aol(dot)com 

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+