Hi. Le jeu. 21 mai 2020 à 19:57, Francesco Petrogalli <[email protected]> a écrit : > > OK, thank you all for the kind reply. > > Here is my understanding, just double cheking with you guys is my > reasoning is right.
I can't follow the whole reasoning (see below), but the conclusion seems nevertheless utterly unfair. > > Step 1: secure the copyright of the PDF of the composition. > I am tempted to say that this is already done by the fact that I have > stored all commits of the development of the PDF via lilypond in a > private repo on bitbucket.org. If the originality of the piece will > ever be challenged, all I need to do it either make the private repo a > public repo, or, if bitbucket dies by the time someone challenges the > originality, I just need to show the git repository I have stored in a > second secure place. > > To make it even more safer than that, I can register the copyright either > with: > > 1. the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress (online) > 2. copyright.co.uk > 3. https://www.costozero.org/ > 4. patamu.com > > I have a slight preference for patamu.com, it seems quite easy and > fully online, it also has international validity, the other options > seems to be country-specific. > > Step 2: register to a PRO to secure the royalties (even if no > royalties will ever come to me). > > I can register to ASCAP or BMI, as an individual who is both the > composer and the publisher. It doesn't matter whether I upload the PDF > or not, the royalties will be collected on the name of the song and > the author/publisher, if someone will ever play it. If ASCAP / BMI > will ask for a copy/link of the work, I can always upload the PDF or > link an upload in, say, soundcloud, of the wave file generated from > the midi. > > Then, say that the band I am giving this piece will decide to produce > a recording, they will register their recording on their favorite PRO, > simply saying that they are the publisher and that I am the writer. > > Step 3: publish the PDF on the internet > > When the prior steps are done, I can safely upload the PDF on my > personal website, for anyone to download. I just have to make sure > that I mark it saying "Copyright (C) 2020 by Francesco Petrogalli > (ASCAP). All rights reserved." > > Thank so much for all the useful help! I just want to add a bit of > background in case there are some details that might change the way I > should do this. > > 1. I am a software engineer working on open source code. In the spirit > of open source, I initially wanted to use a CC-BY license on the work, > then I read this and completely changed my mind. > https://www.ascap.com/playback/2007/FALL/FEATURES/creative_commons_licensing, This link is not viewable unless one accepts this site's advertizing and targeting cookies. So please lay out why you changed your mind about CC. > which somehow seems to contradict > https://creativecommons.org/2010/06/30/response-to-ascaps-deceptive-claims/. > I would have loved to use a CC license that would have guaranteed my > royalties via ASCAP, but ASCAP doesn't seem to be happy about this > license so I will not use it. IIUC, CC licences aim to protect against others making money from your work. How is "ASCAP not being happy" related to that? As a comparison, proprietary software publishers can be unhappy about FLOSS, and FUD campaigns follow. Would that make you stop "working on open source code"? > 2. The song has been written with my 7yo son. He is mentioned in the > PDF as a co-author, but I don't think I can mention it as one of the > authors in ASCAP because ASCAP requires to certify "you are 18yo or > older" when registering. I will anyway publish a video on youtube of > the "improvisation session" in which he came up with the melody. This > plus the authorship claim in the PDF will hopefully secure his part of > the copyright. > > Again, thank you for the help, this is being painful and interesting > at the same time :) > > Kind regards, > > Francesco > > PS: lilypond rocks! :) Unless I'm mistaken, LilyPond (GNU) and CC belong to the "eco-system" where sharing is the norm (to enhance the common cultural pool) while making it hard for "free-riders". Using the tools offered by that alternate system, and then bow to the arguments of those who smear it seems a contradiction. Regards, Gilles > > On Thu, May 21, 2020 at 8:32 AM Tim McNamara <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > On May 21, 2020, at 3:34 AM, Valentin Villenave <[email protected]> > > > wrote: > > > > > > On 5/21/20, Francesco Petrogalli <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> I have written it with lilypond, but it hasn't been performed yet. I > > >> wanted to secure the copyright before performing it. Given that there > > >> is no performing artist yet, there is no recording, so I cannot > > >> register it with ASCAP. Have I got this right? > > > > > > No registration anywhere is needed to "secure the copyright". All you > > > need to have is a way of proving your anteriority if anyone were to > > > come and claim they’ve written it instead of you. There are several > > > commercial services that can do that for you (though many are scams), > > > but there are cheaper and simpler ways; a simple web search brought me > > > to the following page: > > > https://copyright.co.uk/legal-copyright-law.html > > > > Copyright law is nationally controlled, not internationally controlled for > > the most part. There is a degree of reciprocity. In the US, copyright is > > automatically granted to creators but copyright is also divided- the > > creator has rights but so does the publisher, which matters in terms of > > royalty payments if the work is recorded or performed. As the saying goes, > > keep the publishing. Thousands of artists and composers lost out on > > billions of dollars because they signed the publishing away in the early > > days of their careers in the fine print of a recording contract. This has > > been standard practice in the recording industry since its inception and > > has beggared many a musician/composer. I do not feel bad at all about the > > slow death of the major labels since the the internet made their business > > model basically non-viable; most of them have been right bastards to > > artists. Create your own publishing company wholly owned by you. > > > > I don't know about ASCAP; I use BMI and songs can be registered with them > > prior to recording or performance. ASCAP and BMI seem to work about the > > same as do all the performance rights organizations (PROs) in the US; these > > only cover live performance. I register my songs when I judge them > > completed, even though no one else will likely ever perform them since I am > > completely unknown and they are usually weird. I write to amuse myself, > > mainly. Recording royalties through mechanical licenses in the US are > > managed almost universally through the Harry Fox Agency. > > > > As for proving that you are the originator of a composition, thankfully > > your computer records the creation date of your files. That will almost > > certainly never be challenged unless you write a hit record and someone > > decides they want a piece of those royalties. That has led to some truly > > bizarre examples of jurisprudence (suing an artist for plagiarizing > > themselves, for example; suing an artist for writing music that doesn't > > sound like stuff they've written before, etc.). >
