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Creative Commons License !

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TheOrganDoc

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Creative Commons License !

PostMon Feb 20, 2012 10:08 pm

There has been much comment about performance rights of copyrighted material,
I just came across this URL of a synopses of the "Creative Commons License"
as well as a link in it to the legal terminology.
Any comments about its effect on files posted on "Concert Hall"
will be appreciated.

I truly hope that this can provide some peace of mind for those that wish to post on CB !

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
Mel..............TheOrganDoc...............
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John Murdoch

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Re: Creative Commons License !

PostTue Feb 21, 2012 12:27 am

The Creative Commons License is helpful if you create a work and want to allow others to use it. Works uploaded to the Werner Icking Music Archive, for example, are frequently posted with the Creative Commons License.

The problem with posting music to Contrebombarde Concert Hall isn't posting the score (in fact, CCH won't let you post the score--the PDF file type, or file types of common notation applications, is not allowed). The problem is posting a recording of a work. That's not an issue if you're posting a recording of a score that is not under copyright. The problem arises when you post a recording of a score that is copyrighted.

Copyright law in most countries (including the U.S., Canada, and the E.U.) includes something called "mechanical licensing". That covers the recording of a copyrighted work. When you distribute a recorded work, a portion of the proceeds is due to the original composer--each country has an organization that licenses works for recording, and makes sure the composer gets paid. In the UK, for example, that's the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society. In the U.S., for some reason, we have two: ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Artists, and Performers), and BMI (Broadcast Music Inc).

For the vast majority of work on CCH, there's no issue. But if you're making a recording of a copyrighted work, you have to license it from the composer (or the licensing organization in your country). If you don't, both you and CCH could potentially be asked to pay up.

How likely is that? Hey--we're not rock 'n roll. The very biggest hits on CCH have barely over 10,000 downloads. But record companies are actively scanning the Internet, looking for web sites that post MP3 files that may be in their catalog.

I recognize that many people will not be enthusiastic about having to go get permission--or worse, pay for a license--in order to post a file of your own performance. It's frustrating. But its how composers get paid. (And, for what it's worth, a lot of churches and other organizations DO pay an annual licensing fee to cover licensing for public performance of copyrighted works--which is an entirely different subject.)
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engrssc

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Re: Creative Commons License !

PostTue Feb 21, 2012 9:32 am

John Murdoch wrote:(And, for what it's worth, a lot of churches and other organizations DO pay an annual licensing fee to cover licensing for public performance of copyrighted works--which is an entirely different subject.)


A bigger "problem", when a single copy of music is purchased and from it additional copies (copy machined) are made. A big no-no.

It happened "somewhere" that after a church choir concert, one of the concert goers made their way to the performance area and mentioned how much they had enjoyed the concert. They asked if they could take a picture of the beautiful, new organ console with the organist playing some of the music from the concert. The naive organist agreed but didn't realize this "person" was photographing the illegal, copied music score. :oops: Bottom line, the settlement was for $10K. 'nuff said. :cry:

Rgds,
Ed
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John Murdoch

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Re: Creative Commons License !

PostTue Feb 21, 2012 9:43 am

The most famous case of church infringement involved a very small publisher of folk hymns ("And They'll Know We are Christians By Our Love") and the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. The Archdiocese photocopied hundreds of copies--prompting the publisher to sue. The courts awarded the publisher $190,000 in damages, after twelve years of litigation--but rejected his claim for $3 million in compensation for interference (destruction) of his business by circulating letters about the litigation to every Catholic bishop in the U.S.

Here's a link to a Chicago Tribune article about it:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-10-27/news/9003300047_1_appeals-court-chicago-archdiocese-damages

The publisher (apparently a one-man-band in the best of times) lost his business. And the diocese learned a painful, and painfully expensive lesson as well (skip the damages, think of twelve years of attorneys' fees).

I have an annual music budget from the church of $800. Every year $175 of that goes to Christian Copyright Licensing International for a blanket performance rights license--so we don't have to sweat these kinds of details.

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