Klarinet Archive - Posting 000219.txt from 2008/05

From: "Kevin Fay" <kevin.fay.home@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Rant du jour
Date: Sat, 31 May 2008 15:23:45 -0400

Fred Jacobowitz posted:

<<<WRONG!!!!!!! A performer can copy the whole part (as many times as he
wishes!) and perform off of it AS LONG AS the original part is present
during the performance (to prove that you didn't bypass the publisher) and
the xeroxes are destroyed after the performance.>>>

. . . to which Keith Bowen replied:

<<<This is a common belief amongst musicians, but I do not think that it is
correct. I am not a lawyer but have had to go into copyright law, and obtain
the advice of specialist US copyright lawyers, for the Kammermusik
organization that I head. . . .

No doubt, as reported, some publishers at some times give permission for
copying, or do not much care. This doesn't alter the law. Oh, and the onus
is on the alleged violator to prove that they did NOT infringe copyright.>>>

I *am* a lawyer, and deal frequently with copyright law. The stakes are a
higher if you are dealing with architectural plans or software, but the law
is the same. Keith has put it in a nutshell. If you don't have "fair use"
- and what Fred describes absolutely is not - you do not, not, not have the
right to photocopy music, ever. It is *entirely* up to the copyright owner
whether to grant permission to do so, or not.

Donna Higgins reports that Boosey is lenient for Pictures - and why wouldn't
they be, as they've been paid, and there are zillions of legally-owned parts
from when editions were available for sale.

OTOH, the P&B thing we're renting is much closer to renting musical theater
parts. I've posted in the past about how it's not a good idea to make
photocopies of rental music like this, as these folks are truly quite
protective of their rights. Photocopying a single page to assist w/ a bad
page turn can lead to trouble.

Matthew Lloyd is right on the mark when he notes that "If parts are ruined
though overuse, more need to be bought. If, in essence, they are used as
masters for rough copies, the masters will last longer but the publisher
will therefore sell fewer." Music publishers view sheet music as a
consumable. It is emphatically *not* OK, for example, for a junior high
school band director to buy a set of parts, hold them in an archive and give
photocopies to the students because "they'll just ruin them anyway."
Teachers have lost their jobs for doing this. It is the publishers'
expectation that sheet music (Of course, doing this with "borrowed" sheet
music is much worse).

Bottom line - music publishers are in the business of making copies of the
sheet music whose rights they own. If you make a photocopy, they're not
selling one.

kjf

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