Sorry but I thought I had replied to the list but it only went to Tony. Here is what I wrote to him:
Maybe it never expires in the US, but elsewhere it does: How long does copyright last? The current general rule – that copyright generally lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years – came into operation on 1 January 2005. Before then, copyright generally lasted for the life of the relevant creator plus 50 years. There were various exceptions to this rule, including: • where a work was not published, performed or broadcast during the creatorʼs lifetime; and • where something was published anonymously or under a pseudonym, and the identity of the creator couldnʼt reasonably be ascertained. (In each of these cases, copyright lasted for 50 years from the end of the year the work was, with permission, first published, performed or broadcast.) The change in rules resulted from Australiaʼs commitments under the Free Trade Agreement with the US. However, Australia was not obliged to apply the new rules to material in which copyright had already expired. This means that if, under the old rules, copyright had already expired by 1 January 2005, it stays expired, and the material can, at least within Australia, be used freely. (Note, however, that the rules on duration of copyright vary from country to country.) For detailed information on duration in Australia, see our information sheet Duration of copyright. from http://www.copyright.org.au/admin/cms-acc1/_images/11961644624ce9fe69be8e0.pdf Therefore in Australia at least most of the original recordings of Tangos are now in the public domain. Vince I'll let Tony repost his response to me if he wishes. However I will add further to my comments: SADIAC only covers Argentina and the website is in Spanish, so finding out how and what it costs to morally license tango music is impossible to non-Spanish speakers. In a subsequent post, a mention of ASCAP (AMERICAN SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS, AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS) was made. From their website: 12. Aren't musicians, entertainers and DJ's responsible for obtaining permission for music they perform? Some people mistakenly assume that musicians and entertainers must obtain licenses to perform copyrighted music or that businesses where music is performed can shift their responsibility to musicians or entertainers. The law says all who participate in, or are responsible for, performances of music are legally responsible. Since it is the business owner who obtains the ultimate benefit from the performance, it is the business owner who obtains the license. Music license fees are one of the many costs of doing business. I must admit that trying to understand if ASCAP covers music being played milongas/practicas/dance classes is a bit beyond me. However, it seems that the minimum fee that they charge per year is US$288. Vince In Melbourne -----Original Message----- From: Tony Rathburn Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2011 4:38 AM To: [email protected] ; Tango-L Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Copyright for tango music? officially, all tango music is copyrighted... and, the copyright never expires. as within the US, an appropriate fee should be paid to copy, distribute, or play for commercial purposes, including websites or milongas. the organization that covers licensing is BsAs is Sadiac. tony _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
