Klarinet Archive - Posting 001441.txt from 1998/03

From: "Kevin Fay" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: Re: urgent plea
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 20:04:36 -0500

Bull indeed.

Perhaps you should consult a lawyer who regualrly deals with copyright.
I do not have to--I am one. There is no fair use right under Section
107 of the Copyright Act to make copies for page turns. Your
photocopying is actionable (although enforcement is not likely to
happen).

Some photocopying is OK for scholarship and/or criticism. If your
performance is one where tickets are sold, however, you are copying for
a "commercial purpose"--and doing so at your peril. In Sony Corporation
v. Universal City Studios, Inc., the Supreme COurt stated a presumption
that all commercial uses are presumptively unfair (i.e., not "fair
use"). Further, in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., the Court stated
that this presumption, although not dispositive, is most difficult to
overcome in instances of "mere duplication." Translated from
legalspeak, this means that the very worst thing you can do to music
from a copyright perspective is to photocopy it.

kjf

----Original Message Follows----
From: Hat NYC 62 <HatNYC62@-----.com>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 01:13:26 EST
Subject: urgent plea

In a message dated 3/28/98 3:16:45 AM, you wrote:

<<This is a wonderful idea. It is also, unfortunately, illegal.
Contrary
to popular belief, there is no "fair use" right to make an extra copy
for performance purposes. Should your orchestra be the one that gets
"checked on" (rare, but you just never know when ASCAP might send over a
couple of investigators in bad suits . . .) you are going to be out some
money.>>

Bull! It is perfectly legal to copy music for page turns, etc. If you
have
paid for the purchase or rental of a piece of music, copies can be made
as
long as they are destroyed after the performance. Sure beats destroying
the
music for future use.

I was not referring to show books, I was referring to fairly standard
concert
works. I remember playing a symphony by Peter Mennin last year in which
all of
the dynamic markings were darkened over with heavy pencil and new ones
inserted. Also, 'idiot marks' were put in heavily to indicate the beats
in
EVERY syncopated bar. This is the kind of defacement I am talking about.
Basically, if you have to mark items that will not help a future
performance
(basically this means correcting misprints), you should use a copy. Of
course,
it is mostly too late anyway.

The same comments apply to LIBRARY music. Almost every quintet I have
played
from a school or public library has been filled with the most useless
kind of
markings. Most common in chamber parts? Writing the NAME of the person
giving
the cue rather than the instrument!

Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com