[ Bob Conant wrote in 030610 MMDigest: ]

> I hate to bring up this old subject but playing modern and current
> music in public could cause some problems with copyrights.

There has been such discussions already.  While I'm not sure as of
the last standings, the argument is such that the music played by an
instrument such as ours is not de facto originally the music that is
copyrighted, but an arrangement.

Under the law, after a certain amount of changes to the tune it becomes
a variation, and if you want to go into the grey area of argumentation,
then your purpose of playing the music is not imitation, but parody!
No law in the world can stop you from doing parody.

greetings by(e) InK - Ingmar Krause
Victoria, BC, Canada
Erlangen, BY, Germany

 [ Organbuilder Frederic Keller, then living in the Black Forest,
 [ said exactly that.  He urged me to view crank-organ music as
 [ a satire or parody, like an animated cartoon film is a parody.
 [ -- Robbie