Klarinet Archive - Posting 000275.txt from 2010/06

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Sheet music copyright
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:52:23 -0400

On 06/30/2010 08:40 PM, Michelle Guajardo wrote:
> Is music from the Public Domain necessarily free, or is it just free to
> share?

Free as in freedom, certainly. Free as in beer? That depends on what
source you get it from.

You may have to pay to get a copy of a work that's out of copyright, but
there's nothing then to stop you sticking it under the photocopier, or
making a scan and posting it on the internet, or creating any other
derivative work you like.

That's why e.g. Dover editions -- which are reproductions of
out-of-copyright works -- are one of the major sources for the
IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library:
http://imslp.org/wiki/

Complications come in where you have new editions -- e.g. scholarly
urtext editions -- of works which in principle are long out of
copyright. Here the novel work put in by the editor and/or publisher
may justify their claiming copyright in the new edition, but depending
on the jurisdiction it may not last as long as for a substantially novel
work.
_______________________________________________
Klarinet mailing list
Klarinet@-----.com
To do darn near anything to your subscription, go to:
http://klarinet-list.serve-music.com

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org