In Digest 961206 Matthew Caulfield wrote: > the first fact to remember is that any tune written before January 1, > 1921, is currently and unequivocally in the public domain. This is legally correct, but I'd like to note here that the Digital Tradition Folk Song [a web site which offered music and l...

•On the subject of getting copyright approvals and permission to reproduce, music can be an absolute mess, as often the copyright holders don't know they hold it. In the case of sheet music -- and four items I need to reproduce for my upcoming book "Let The Other Guy Play It!", the pictorial history...

•Recent postings about copyright law have brought a basic question to my mind. If you wanted to produce a new piano roll version of a tune like "Someone to Watch Over Me", as an example, where do you start with complying with copyright law? Is there a neat way to research for who is the composer (Ge...

•[ Our new member Johnny Lite wrote to Tim Baxter: ] > Thanks for your articles about copyrights. If you have any info on > the following would appreciate it ... > > I have heard some CDs of Eubie Blake's blues-rags (three hand- > arranged rolls owned and recorded by Mike Montgomery for Biograph). >...

•I know there are those out there more experienced than I, but allow me to say this. Those putting their player's performances on the Internet, that those sounds are Copyrighted much of the time. To the best of my knowledge, it is illegal to record someone else's recording and distribute it without ...

•Hello, Listmembers! My name is Bob Loesch, and I own a player piano. ((murmured: 'hi, Bob')) [ How 'bout a big, resounding "*Hi, Bob*!!" ;) -- Robbie ] I'm a new subscriber, and this is my first post to this list. I have a Knabe 88-n player piano, a Marshall & Wendell upright Ampico (un- restored)...

•[ Ref. 010625 MMDigest, "U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Electronic [ Copyright Law" In France, electronic royalties apply in addition to the royalties of the paper edition. Therefore a publisher must obtain the author's agreement and/or pay the author of articles published in his newspaper, on the on...

•The now-meaningless Supreme Court decision that Ray Finch asks about in 011119 MMD -- a decision that was once extremely important and has impacted the recording industry up until the Copyright Act of 1976 slammed the door on piracy, essentially reversing the Court's position by statute -- is the 1...

•I noticed that there have been several discussions on copyright laws here. This long, complex article discusses the current long, complex music copyright laws in the USA: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/music-royalties.htm Mark Kinsler

•Mark Kinsler pointed us in the direction of a comprehensive article on music copyright in the USA. I scanned this in the hope of discovering if the USA goalposts have been moved as they have here in the UK. This refers to the time limit for copyright on music -- or anything else, for that matter. O...

•In the UK copyright is somewhat different. The actual tune or arrangement is copyrighted for a period of 70 years from the death of the artist. If the artist was employed by a company to produce the work and was paid, then the copyright dies with the company or, if the company still exists, then th...

•I'm afraid that some confusion has crept into this debate, because it's incorrect to say that rolls are copyright for 70 years from death of artist under British law. They aren't! The values I referred to a few days back are the correct ones, as reference to the British Government web sites will re...

•YouTube being YouTube (again) For those who publish videos of their instruments on YouTube, this might be of interest. I'm not sure if others have had this issue, but from time to time YouTube's copyright bot will place a copyright claim on one or more of my videos. I'm always careful to make sure ...

•YouTube's copyright system does not like mechanical music. However, one would think that an "advanced algorithm" would be able to recognize if something is public domain and then not remove it. In regards to Art Thompson's scenario from last Digest, if anything, he should file a claim against the b...

George Bogatko concluded (digest 960201) > The last person to make millions from the kind of music we like > stole it from Scott Joplin. I played with a "Silver Cornet Ragtime Orchestra" of college kids in the 1960's, after "The Red Back Book" LP by Gunter Schuller hit the Number One position in the...

Pianosdude@aol.com (Joe) "Music Copyrights" > I have seen various references to copyrights and would like to know if > anyone can clearly define what is the current protection period of copyright > for published music. In particular, what is the cutoff date on old player > piano and similar material...

Joe Hutter asked about copyright protection periods. First, the usual disclaimer...I am not an attorney, etc., etc. However, there was an enlightening article in the MBSI Journal of Mechanical Music by Matthew Caulfield in Summer, 1992. It is worth reading for details. The basics are that only melod...

Lots of opinions. Here's mine. After the dust settled, I believe protection was extended to compositions that had been properly renewed prior to 1978. The extended period was 75 years after the initial copyright. So in January, that will make things copyrighted prior to 1921 public domain. There is ...

Many thanks for the last batch of digests. I tried the FTP today and it didn't work this time either. Please take a look at the [ Editor's Note: My apologies that the FTP site is not [ working correctly for you. I'm going to be out of town [ on business so I'll be at least a week before I can get [ ...

Jody, Keeping in mind your very accurate comment that we are not lawyers, I will give you my thoughts on the interesting questions you raised in connection with my post of 96.01.05 on the subject of copyright. This is pretty swampy territory, and what follows may need correction or clarification. Du...