Klarinet Archive - Posting 000001.txt from 2008/06
From: Oliver Seely <oseely@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] Rant du jour
Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:25:34 -0400
I raised this issue on another list a couple of years ago. For this
list it would come out as "does anyone know the actual number of
people who were prosecuted last year for having xeroxed a whole
musical work, score and parts, AND used those copies in a
performance?" The ante for this question has been raised far beyond
what I wrote in the other list which was to make a large number of
copies (100 or so) of a copyrighted work and pass them out to the
students in one's class at a public university.
I'm still waiting for an answer on that one, but any answer from a
knowledgeable person will be received cheerfully.
Oliver
At 03:01 PM 6/1/2008, you wrote:
>It is with some reluctance that I take on the task of arguing with a lawyer
>- but it seems to me that copying a part for the purpose of marking it up or
>repaging it is about as likely to get you into trouble as removing the tag
>from your mattress. Does anyone know of anyone who's actually been
>prosecuted for making a turn page? What if you need a transposed copy?
>(before Dan howls, I remind him of his recent story about getting the bass
>clarinet part in bass clef - when the composer meant for the publisher to
>provide it in treble clef.) What if you have one of those fancy new
>computer monitor/music stands where you have to scan the music in to read it
>while playing? What if you need to make the staffs further apart to make
>the mark up you need? It seems to me unlikely any copyright holder's going
>to go after you for doing any of these things (they'd look pretty silly)
>provided you held the original document.
>
>Doug
>http://ConicWave.net
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Kevin Fay [mailto:kevin.fay.home@-----.net]
>Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 12:24 PM
>To: klarinet@-----.org
>Subject: RE: [kl] Rant du jour
>
>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
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
