Subject: Re: [Harp-L] copyright issues and permission





When my old band recorded a CD a number of years ago the deal with Harry Fox was there was a set license fee per song, then a charge for how many CDs you were having duplicated, plus for some reason an extra charge depending on how long the song was. That part I couldn't figure out. Any duplicating company will not make your CDs without the proof of payment.

Another suggestion regarding copyrighting is to send your CD to the copyright office. You can copyright an entire performance or CD as a whole, rather than individual songs.

Also, consider joining ASCAP. You can start a music publishing company for $25. You can also register as a songwriter for an additional $25. If by some chance in a million someone steals your song and starts making money or you sell it to someone, showing proof of publishing is the big deal. Or so I'm told--I'm certainly no lawyer.

Regarding stolen music, I remember years and years ago Steely Dan put out the Gaucho CD. I was a huge fan of theirs and they were definitely regarded as real artists in the rock world. I read something about how they had "borrowed" a Keith Jarrett song for part of the music of the song Gaucho. After I listened to it I was shocked--they basically stole it. I was pretty disillusioned with them at that point. When their box set came out years after that the songwriting credits had changed to Becker, Fagen, and Jarrett. So I guess they can track you down when you are big time and try to get away with this.

Marc Spilka
Los Gatos, Ca


Subject: Re: [Harp-L] copyright issues and permission
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID:
<4.3.2.7.2.20100329191740.064b2640@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

I worked in the copyright department of one of the largest music publishers
in the world in the 1970's, and have been doing copyright work in the last
few years for several projects.


First, just to set the stage, by law if a song has already been recorded,
and if it is still under copyright, the owner of that copyright is
compelled by law to grant you a license to release another recording of
that song.  However, you are compelled by law to request a license.

The pointer to the Harry Fox office is spot on.  You file your license
request through them.  They are a clearing house for the publishers.  The
publishers receive regular reports concerning who they have granted
licenses to record to, etc.  You are required to give the owner of the
copyright, usually the publisher, about ten cents per copy of the song
sold.  That money used to be collected and distributed every quarter.  I
don't know if it still works that way.

Back in the 70's, the Fox office did not charge you to file a license
request.  Now they do.  The full price is $35 per song, or was last time I
looked.  The good news is that if you expect that you'll be selling low
numbers, they don't want to pry the full $35 from you.  There is a lower
fee for small potatoes recording acts that mainly intend to sell a few
hundred or thousand copies.

Through the years recordings have been released of copyrighted songs where
the license was not requested.  Big, big trouble ensues.  One such record
was Kansas City by Wilbert Harrison, a tremendous hit.  His record company
did not request a license from Leiber & Stoller's company, and wound up
losing most of their profit in court.

One of my best friends had an interesting job at Warner Bros records back
in the 90's.  His whole job was to listen to every rap record that Warners
released to make sure that all samples had been licensed.  Rappers were
warned that it would cost them dearly if they didn't list and pay for all
samples.  Many ignored this, and my friend, who really knows music, was
able to catch many indiscretions before they were released.

On all too many occasions, however, the artist had to pay huge damages when
copyrighted material was sampled and not licensed. Copyright owners have
their own people keeping an ear out for such things.


Don't let any of this scare you off.  Contact the Harry Fox office and
learn what you have to learn to make your recordings legitimate.  I
recommend copyrighting your own songs, even though the Copyright Office
website is one of the worst websites I have ever encountered.  But you do
not have to request licences for your own material, just for the material
you release by others.









This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.