Copyright Laws

[ncognito]

There has recently been quite a bit of interest in the Talent Quest thread and back in the winter the LGF CD Compilation thread regarding legal hurdles involved in recording our music.  Whenever this issue of copyright laws  is raised the interest and excitement about a project seems to fizzle like we've hit an impenetraable wall.  Other forums have accomplished this, people have walked on the moon forty years ago and we have over 7000 members.  Who here can educate us on this concern.  Certainly there is at least a handful of knowledgeable professional people out of 7000 willing to provide some insight and possibly even one who'd be willing to tackle this problem in a leadership capacity given that this is a worthwhile cause: to help disadvantaged musicians.  Am I totally naive, or is ambivalence the status quo?  Yes, I know I should apologize because my wording is a bit strong, but I don't feel like this sentiment should be watered down.  It's not my intent to offend, just to rattle the cage, but in a friendly way.   

         DAVE 

[RoundLakeDT]

I looked into this (very) briefly a while back, and here's my understanding:

a) You need to get a license (and pay a fee) to record & publicly release any copyrighted tune, no matter how few copies.  Same (or similar) fee applies whether you put out CD's or MP3 downloads or both.
b) For <2500 copies, the process is very straightforward (web-based), with a one-time fee plus a per-copy fee.
c) Public domain tunes don't need a license, but you need to check the registries to verify a tune isn't copyrighted since many tunes you would not expect are copyrighted, such as 'Happy Birthday' (really).
d) You don't need a license to release your own (original) material, although you need to apply for a copyright if you want to be recognized as the copyright holder (otherwise someone else can copyright your own song against you, as happened to Libba Cotten and her classic "Freight Train")

I'll try and fill in the details as best I can:

If you want to make less than 2,500 copies you can get a "mechanical" license -- called that because you are not negotiating directly with a producer, you just go to a website, pay an upfront and per-copy fee, and you're done.  For more copies, you need to negotiate with the agency directly

To determine if a tune is copyrighted, go to the search at http://www.pdinfo.com/

Mechanical Licenses can be obtained from the Harry Fox Agency (HFA), using their Songfile application at http://www.harryfox.com/public/songfile.jsp  You can search this site to find all the tunes they offer a license to

A Mechanical License costs about $13-$15 per song (the one-time fee), plus about $0.091 per copy.  You need to buy rights to at least 25 copies.  Therefore if we want to put out a CD of 15 copyrighted tunes, the Forum would be looking at an upfront fee of around $225, plus $1.37 per each copy we release

Here's the gist of the regulations, taken from HFA's page on Mechanical Licenses:  "If you are manufacturing and distributing copies of a song which you did not write, and you have not already reached an agreement with the song's publisher, you need to obtain a mechanical license. This is required under U.S. Copyright Law, regardless of whether or not you are selling the copies that you made."

And I'm sure we'd all like to hear from published artists such as Denis who may have been through this (although he's releasing his own material)

Dave

[BenF]

So does that make youtube OK because you can view but not download?  I have always wondered why so many people put covers on youtube and get away with it.

Thank you for all that good information Dave - very well explained too!

[RoundLakeDT]

YouTube... good question.  I don't know what's involved there but maybe the publishers just gave up on that one.  And yes, perhaps no-downloads does help (a bit)

Regarding a Forum CD or other compilation, it seems quite reasonable that each artist could cover the one-time fee for the tune they want to include ($15, or none if it's original), and Forumites who want the CD or MP3's could pay the $1-$2 in per-copy royalties for the entire set

[ncognito]

RoundLakeDT-- 

You saved the day again.  Thanks for the leg work and concise explaination, although I think for me it will take a few readings to "hopefully" fully grasp this stuff. 

        DAVE 

[Dotneck]

YouTube... good question.  I don't know what's involved there but maybe the publishers just gave up on that one.  And yes, perhaps no-downloads does help (a bit)

No...when you post on youtube you agree that you own the copyright to the material. Obviously many people ignore that. But if a copyright holder complains that their copyright is being infringed upon...youtube will pull the offending video. I have not heard of any lawsuits over copyright infringement on youtube but it will happen.

[RoundLakeDT]

No...when you post on youtube you agree that you own the copyright to the material. Obviously many people ignore that. But if a copyright holder complains that their copyright is being infringed upon...youtube will pull the offending video. I have not heard of any lawsuits over copyright infringement on youtube but it will happen.

Thanks Dotneck, that's pretty clear.  I suppose the copyright holders might be more sensitive to copyright violations if most of us weren't mangling their music so it was darn near unrecognizable 

[Denis]

And I'm sure we'd all like to hear from published artists such as Denis who may have been through this (although he's releasing his own material)

As you mentioned, I`m releasing my own material so none of what you mentioned in you original reply applies to me.  Whew!!!  I did have to get a copyright for my material however which I did by spending $50 and getting Industry Canada to register my copyright.  I also needed ISRC codes for each tune.  Recording, mastering, duplication...all that cost some $...

BTW Dave, just to be clear, unfortunately, I'm not published yet.  I've had a bunch of tunes forwarded on taxi.com...many of the same songs have been forwarded several times in many different listings.  I have friends that have friends that are music supervisors/directors that have been kind enough to contact them and send them copies of my CD...but so far no contracts or licensing offers or anything. 

[BenF]

but so far no contracts or licensing offers or anything. 

idiots

[Denis]

idiots

Thanks Ben.    

Maybe it'll happen one day, maybe it won't.  I've already gone through a period where I would get my hopes up and then get discouraged, daily sometimes. 

If it happens, it happens...all there is to it.