John Chambers wrote:
>
> | This brings to the forefront a very murky problem. I have
> | a (not so) large collection of tunes in ABC format (<=100 :-).
> | While most are in the public domain, some are not.
> | For example, I have a version of Ashokan's Farewell written by
> | Jay Unger in 1983.
> |
> | Now (not so hypothetically), in the interest in promulgating
> | (my particular brand of) music, I typeset my tunes and take them
> | to the local music store and sell them with the proviso that all
> | profits go to help offset the cost of musical instrument rentals
> | to under-privilaged children (I encourage you all to do the
> | same).
> | The question is, have I violated J. Unger's copyright (and
> | Rounder's)
> | or not?
>
> Yes you have. No murkiness here at all. A few copies for
> personal use aren't going to raise many eyebrows. But
> selling printed copies like this is totally illegal just
> about anywhere in the world. It doesn't matter in the least
> that you are doing something that you consider worthwhile
> with the money. (And note that, by posting your message,
> you have publicly admitted that you know who composed this
> tune, so you'll have no defense. ;-)
>
> In this case, I happen to know that Jay's a nice guy, and
> if you ask, he'll almost certainly give you permission. So
> ask him. You might not be surprised to hear that his email
> address is [EMAIL PROTECTED] He's one of the organizers of
> the Ashokan dance camp. He and Molly also have a web site,
> at www.jayandmolly.com.
>
> (Hereabouts in New England there have been suggestions that
> we declare a 5-year moratorium on Ashokan Farewell. ;-)
>
> | In a similar vain, a lot of the tunes I originally learned from
> | "the book-o-fiddle-tunes": if the author does not receive credit,
> | have I broken the law? (or more exactly, an unwritten law?)
>
> You have certainly violated lots of written laws. Dunno
> about the unwritten ones, though. If you can show evidence
> that you did a reasonable search and couldn't learn
> anything about a tune, the courts have a history of being
> lenient when the actual owner sues. Publishers tend to be
> rather picky about doing a fairly thorough search for
> copyright owners. If you look in a lot of obvious places
> and can't find anything, it's common to have a disclaimer
> to the effect that the composer is unknown, and later
> editions often have an updated attribution (if the composer
> is found and permission given) or the tune is deleted with
> an explanation.
>
> This is the main reason that music books often come out
> several years after their planned publication date.
>
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Thanks for the comments, all. Fear not, I have not violated any
laws since
this was only an idea --- the points raised by this little thread
has
dampened my enthusiasm for such a project. In fact, my feeling
is that even posting
tunes like Ashokan Farewell to the net is questionalble without
permission,
but I am no expert in this field. Also, when I said 'author' I
meant the
author of the book, not the tune --- sorry for the confusion.
Brad
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