I've recently become aware of the fact that many piano roll songs are
_exactly_ the same arrangement irrespective of the maker of the roll.
I'm curious as to how this came about.

Did manufactures simply steal from each other?  Did the performers
do the same performance for many companies?

I'm sure in some cases, one company owns more than one label, but it
just seems that there are an awful lot of rolls that are virtually
identical from what I think are unrelated manufacturers.

Also, were copyright laws different enough in the early 1900's that
this sort of thing was simply okay to do?  Just a question that's been
bothering me for awhile.

John W Miller

 [ Uninspired performers simply played the notes of the sheet music,
 [ thus the different music rolls may play exactly the same notes.
 [ When laid over the note field of the corresponding Duo-Art roll,
 [ many Universal and Melodee rolls match hole-for-hole.  This is
 [ a conclusive demonstration that the performances are identical.
 [ Often different pseudonyms appear on the label as the performer.
 [ But if they don't match hole-for-hole then they are different
 [ performances.  Many 88-note roll performances were subsequenty
 [ edited for nickelodeon rolls and so sound very similar to the ears.
 [
 [ A list of music roll brand names and the manufacturer is at
 [ http://mmd.foxtail.com/MMMedia/brands.html  -- Robbie