Hi Melissa, yes - you are certainly qualified to answer my question, thank you. My thoughts on this are that while the law is necessarily black and white, copyright violations in the folk world span a massive spectrum, at one end you have tunebooks made mainly for groups to play together from but placed on the web, with a few well known tunes from Chabenat, Paris, Bouffard, Stapleton etc mixed in. Usually these tunes are already 'published' and as long as the tunes are credited properly (and named and spelt correctly) it could be argued that this sort of activity (while technically illegal) probably helps the artist. Newcomers to the music come to know who the composers of the session tunes are and can seek out the CDs, books, workhops and concerts for find more. At the other end of the spectrum you have the sort of case you describe where significant amounts of material are reproduced for profit without permission or royalties. Such blatant rip-off and mis-crediting of tunes is clearly completely out of order, no question. I am more interested in the first case really .. and what the artists think .. whether they feel their work is helped or hindered by the tunes become commonly known through sharing in this way. If the answer is 'helped', it would be great if we could see a wider use, by the artists themselves, of creative commons licences and the like.
Paul On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 7:24 PM, Melissa Kacalanos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ah, that makes more sense. But still, it might be misinterpreted. Many folks > in the folk music world, including many people who are composing new tunes, > feel that music should be shared, for free, with anyone. I just don't want > that popular opinion to be accepted as the only opinion, so the rights of > composers who feel differently are infringed upon. > > I have actual experience with this. I know of one hg player who does > extremely creative arrangements of public domain tunes, so creative that the > original tune is barely recognizable. They're great arrangements, and maybe > even should count as brand new, original tunes. He doesn't call them by > their traditional names, but comes up with new names for them. Also, he is > rather possessive of these arrangements, and has explicitly stated that he > doesn't want other people playing them, even just hobbyists who are making > no money off the tunes. I think this is because he doesn't want his > arrangements being mistaken for the genuine, traditional tunes, and > misleading people who might think they're playing historically accurate > music. He'd rather have the original, historical tunes stay pure, so each > new musician can do their own arrangements of them, not an arrangement of an > arrangement. > > I also know a musician who has taken it upon herself to transcribe tunes and > post them online. (Not for free, she charges to download each tune.) She > has been transcribing all sorts of standards, including, I'm sorry to say, > many things that are still definitely under copyright, like classic tunes > from the 1950's and '60's. She isn't paying the composers' estates a cent. > She also often doesn't even credit the composers, but claims that the tunes > are "traditional," so her customers who buy her tunes, and might later want > to record and sell them, would be inadvertently committing a crime. I have > told her that this is wrong, for both legal and ethical reasons, but she has > said that she plans to keep doing it since she probably won't get caught. > (Most of the composers lived or live in other countries, so she thinks the > danger is less.) > > After a great deal of argument, I did manage to stop her from selling the > very creative arrangements done by this hg player I mentioned (which she had > been claiming were traditional.) I think what finally convinced her was that > this hg player was someone she might run into, so she was more likely to get > caught. > > She also expressed interest in transcribing a tune I wrote, but I think I > managed to convince her not to do that either. Maybe I'd better check her > website to make sure. Many people have asked me for dots for this tune. I'm > wondering what to do about sharing it, since it is a good tune if I do say > so myself, and I'd like to see it become popular. But I don't want someone > else making this decision for me. > > So, I guess I am a composer who feels strongly about this, which I guess > qualifies me to answer your question. > > Melissa > www.melissatheloud.com > My tune in question is The Burning of the Temple, track 3 off my solo CD, > Tunes From a Strange Land: > http://cdbaby.com/cd/kacalanos > > > Paul Sherwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Melissa, > I know it wasn't clear from my message but when I said 'how strongly people > feel' I was thinking of the composers feelings, not the general list. > Hopefully > there are some composers (or people who know their thoughts) on this list > who might comment. > Paul > > On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 6:23 PM, Melissa Kacalanos wrote: > > How the folks on this list feel about this isn't the issue. What matters > is > > how the composers feel about their music being published, and the only way > > to find that out is to ask them. > > > > Let's say there's a musician who composes a good tune, so other musicians > > want to play it. Someone might transcribe it and want to share it, say by > > putting it online, for free, for other hobbyists to play, also for free. > Or > > maybe he just hands out sheet music to his friends. No one is making money > > off this. Then what if the original composer later wants to publish a book > > of original tunes? The musicians who want that tune have already > downloaded > > that tune for free, so there goes the potential market for that book. Yes, > > no one has made any money off of the composer's tune, but the composer has > > still been cheated. > > > > Under US copyright law at least, this is illegal. More importantly, it's a > > mean thing to do to our fellow musicians. > > > > I'm sure many musicians would be happy to share their music if you ask > them, > > but the important thing is asking them. > > > > Melissa > > www.melissatheloud.com > > > > > > > Paul Sherwood wrote: > > I think most people in the trad and folk world are happy to have people > > play their tunes. Whether they are happy to have them published as > > a manuscript (or other forms such as abc) is a different matter. Since > > Blowzabella publish the books as part of their income, they might well > > object to lost revenues if someone made a big ABC file and put it on the > > net. > > > > Any thoughts on how strongly people feel about this? > > > > Paul > > > > On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 3:33 PM, DEREK LOFTHOUSE wrote: > > > I am at work so i dont have the books here to check, but the 2nd > > Blowzabella > > > tune book says something to the effect of 'please feel free to play our > > > tunes, but credit us and something about royalties if you are making > money > > > off of them'. > > > I think most people writing music in the 'trad' world are just happy to > > have > > > their tunes played. I've been to workshops with Gilles Chabenat and he > > > mainly works on his own tunes, so i think he is more than happy to see > > > people play them > > > > > > hope this helps a little > > > > > > derek > > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! 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