At 11:30 AM -0600 11/28/06, Noel Stoutenburg wrote:
David Froom forwarded:
I co-arranged and recorded a piece (Nature Boy) with the late
composer (Eden Ahbez) who left me the master, told me how he wanted
it produced, asked me to finish it, and see to its distribution. He
left his publishing to an aged freind who I am told has no interest.
Years have passed and I finally have a small budget to honor Eden's
wishes. I suspect the market for the work is not large, however
well it turns out.
I know nothing about negotiating a license. How would you advise I
approach him to keep this all above board.
Keeping in mind that I am not an attorney, this is how I would
approach the situation, Keep it simple. Approach the old friend,
offer to host him to a meal, share some reminisences with the friend
about Eden, including your work with him on Nature boy. If you have
instructions from Eden in writing, it might be useful to have copies
[Note: _not_ the originals] at the meal, indicate what you want to
do, and attempt to secure his agreement. If you get it, both of you
sign, in the presence of witnesses, ideally a Notary Public two
copies of a memorandum of agreement, and each keep a copy.
Also, if it were me, and if Eden had other work deserving of
preservation, after getting the memorandum of agreement on the
present project, I would offer to assume the publishing of other
materials on behalf of, and as agent and successor to Edens friend.
I was tempted to reply, but David's friend's message leaves too much
out to get a clear picture of the situation. First, has the song
been copyrighted and published, and if so, when? I certainly
remember hearing a song called "Nature Boy," and if it is the same
one that I remember it has been recorded at least once, perhaps back
in the '40s or '50s.
...
OK, a quick Google search answered a lot of questions. Apparently it
was at the top of the Hit Parade in 1948, and the artist most closely
associated with the song was Nat "King" Cole. That's the recording I
remember. And since Ahbe lived until 1995, the song is almost
certainly still under copyright (if it was renewed in its 28th year)
and was almost certainly published because it was a major song in the
late '40s.
Therefore, who owns the copyright? What does "he left his publishing
to an aged friend" actually mean, in terms of copyright? Who was the
publisher, and was the copyright assigned to that publisher as was
common?
As to how to proceed, that depends on the interpretation of quite a
few different things. If Ahbe was involved with the arrangement and
recording session cited, we can certainly assume that it was done
with his permission, so in spite of the fact that time has passed
since the session it may not be necessary to secure permission at
all! (And like Noel I am not an attorney, and an attorney should be
consulted on this question.)
So the key bit of information is this: who owns and/or controls the
copyright? Find the answer to that question and you will know how to
approach the Harry Fox Agency to secure a license, if that turns out
to be necessary. (In fact, now that I think of it, they may have the
answer in their database. It certainly wouldn't hurt to ask! No. 1
songs do not get swept under the table!)
Another question that needs to be answered is this: who owns the
master recording? Legally, that is. And that often is not an easy
question to answer! Ahbe may have personally handed the master to
you, but that doesn't establish whether he actually owned it, or
whether you now own it. Who paid for the session? (And of course,
depending on when it was done, how much may that master have
deteriorated?)
As an aside, if ahbe himself is on that recording, it would have
historical value far beyond just another arrangement of the song
itself, and might well be very attractive to a lot of people as a
valuable historical artifact.
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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