> Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 09:19:45 -0500 (EST)
> From: Tim Dunnington <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> I have a general question about music copyrights. I've taken and
> re-arranged Barber's Adagio for organ, violin and clarinet, for use at
> Church. I had no intention of selling this, but it nonetheless got me
> wondering about how the copyrights work on music.
Because Barber died 1981 the Adagio is copyrighted until 2051. So you
may use the work for an arrangement only if this is allowed by the
copyright holders, who may deny it or ask for a fee or who may state
that the performance rights (and fee) belong to them. It's their
work and you have to accept their conditions or don't make an
arrangment. This is completely independent of how you use the arrangement
- except if you use it only in private and do not publish it in any way.
If you re-arrange a work which is out of copyright you may(!) get
a new copyright for this arrangement, if the arrangement counts
as work of its own. This requires some own ideas which must be
a little bit more than transposing the whole piece or octaviate
single phrases.
If it is a work of its own, then you are automagically the
copyright owner, because you did it. If it is a permitted
arrangment of a copyrighted work then original work is
copyrighted as before.
Wer "not a lawyer" ner
