Copyright and licensing Flashcards
How do you obtain the rights to stream a piece online?
Talk to each publisher to get permission (“mechanical rights/mechanical license”). This can often be done through Zinfonia when you’re renting the parts. You’ll need to know the length of time it’ll be left up for streaming.
What’s unusual about Bernstein’s West Side Story Suite?
You aren’t allowed to rearrange the order of the movements in the suite.
How do you know which version of a Mahler or Bruckner symphony to use?
Get the exact editor’s number from the conductor’s score, or have them send a scan/photocopy of the first page.
What does “Grand Rights” mean?
The right to perform any work that includes any sort of staged (or semi-staged) action, including dance, pantomime, or dramatic staging. When Grand Rights are obtained, one doesn’t have to submit the performance to ASCAP/BMI.
When ordering rental materials, what information must you provide to the publisher for accurate fulfillment of your order?
- Composer, title, edition/catalogue number
- Date materials are required; performance date(s)
- Number of string parts and and scores required
- Billing and shipping addresses
- Name of venue
- Name of conductor and/or soloist
- Will there be a recording or broadcast?
What is a “Performing Rights Organization”?
An organization such as ASCAP or BMI in the US that acts as a clearing house for the collection of royalties owed to publishers and composers for public performances/broadcasts of their copyrighted, non-dramatic works. This fee is separate from fees for rental or purchase of materials.
From whom do you find out the publisher of a work protected by copyright you know is not a new work, but which is not in any publisher’s catalogue or bibliographic reference?
The index dept. at ASCAP or BMI; Zinfonia; World Cat/university libraries
What is the difference in the length of copyright protection in the US and in Europe?
In the US, works protected before 1978 have a single term of 95 years from the initial date of protection; works protected starting in 1978 have a term of the life of the composer plus 70 years. In Europe, the term is life of the composer plus 70 years no matter when it was published.
Must rental fees be paid for the use of works of Richard Strauss in the Kalmus edition when used in Europe?
Not anymore (as of 2020), because it has been more than 70 years since his death.
Works from what year entered the public domain on January 1, 2022?
1926 (2022 minus 95 years)
If a work was created or published in 1978 or beyond, when will it enter the public domain?
70 years after the death of the composer.
What is a mechanical license?
Grants permission to release an audio recording (streaming, CD, etc) of a copyrighted piece. Usually only grants permission to stream in one place for a certain length of time, and if it’s a CD, they need to know how many copies.
What constitutes “fair use”?
Anything that doesn’t cost the publisher money. Practice parts and PDFs are a gray area. Copyrighted excerpts for auditions are also sort of a gray area, but should just contact the publisher for permission.
Is radio broadcast included in the rental fee for copyrighted works?
Some publishers allow it and others don’t; need to ask permission (don’t always know when renting).
What agency would you contact to obtain a mechanical license for a recording?
Harry Fox agency (mostly for commercially-distributed recordings, like CDs)
