Klarinet Archive - Posting 000532.txt from 1996/03

From: Fred Jacobowitz <fredj@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: copyright clearance questions
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 17:02:35 -0500

Eric,
My Klezmer band has released two CD's now. In both cases, it was
a relatively easy task to track down the status of the works in question.
Calling ASCAP and BMI helped nail down which company handled the licensing
And in all cases it turned out to be Harry Fox agency in New York City.
However, it should be even easier in the case of classical music because
everyone knows when pieces were written, by whom and where published.
Anyway, Harry Fox sent me a schedule of payment which varied by length of
song, number of units produced (e.g. 1000 cd's), the particular use (such
as for a CD, radio broadcase, etc.), and other particulars. I assume the
same principle holds true for classical music (except maybe for the
length category). You are on your honor to report how many units you made
and for what purpose. Then they bill you for that much. For example, for
our recording, each tune under 5 minutes cost $.065 per unit. So when we
made 1,000 CD's and 500 cassettes we payed 1,500 x $.065 for each song.
Hope this helps.

Fred Jacobowitz
Machaya Klezmer Band in the Baltimore/Washington area

On Tue, 19 Mar 1996, eric nelson wrote:

> Has anyone out there had experience in obtaining permission to include
> copyrighted materials on a CD to be issued for commercial distribution? If
> so I would appreciate any contacts, shortcuts, or tricks you may have
> discovered along the way.
>
> thanks - eric nelson [the lightwood duo]
>