[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hi Ed, I agree but I'd qualify that with 'without the copyright
> owner's permission'. When you purchase music legally, the > copyright owner grants you certain rights which generally include
'fair use' types of things such as making photocopies for your
> personal use.
> to perform the work, which I think is what you're more concernedSurprisingly to some people, these rights don't include any right
> about. You can contact BMI or ASCAP for that information, but
> usually like I say that is (or should be) taken care of by the
> venue owner.
Here (in Belgium), no-one can forbid you to perform copyrighted music. However, when doing a performance, the band should dutifully submit a playlist to the Belgian Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SABAM, http://www.sabam.be/>). The organiser of the performance should pay a contribution to SABAM which is (or rather: should be) distributed fairly among all members according to number of performances of their works, etc.
Rights for reproduction are a totally different matter and here, the permission of the copyright holder is necessary. This is quite a burden, especially in the traditional music scene. Some tunes that are actually traditional appear to be under copyright and it's not always simple to find the owners and to get permission. When a friend of mine recorded a cd a few years ago, they included a traditional tune (Flemish I think) for which the copyright was owned by some obscure Parisian company that had no apparent connection with the music business whatsoever.
The solution for performances would be to learn the tunes by heart. No copies needed, no reproduction rights needed. But I don't know how (if at all) this is applicable to other countries...
bert
PS. Best wishes to you all. May the next year be one full of beautiful music and may the abc-notation take over the world... ;-)
--
Bert Van Vreckem
If Bill Gates had a penny for each time Windows crashed...
Wait a minute! He does!
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