CompuServe Thread

>>Is the same true for classical music?<< The music itself may no longer be subject to copyright protection, but the performance is likely to be. I strongly recommend that if you are producing commercially, that you take great pains to ensure you are not infringing on someone elses copyrights. The only music I will use in a production is music for which I have obtained explicit license to use for that purpose. There are several ways to go. If you have a huge production budget, you can license a classical performance you want to use thru BMI or ASCAP. Lots of bucks. Second, you can go to misic libraries. These companies advertize in Videography, Video Maker, DV, etc. There are three types of licenses: 1. Blanket royalty. You pay x dollars per year which allows you to incorporate their music in your productions. 2. Needledrop (sometimes called laserdrop these days). You pay x dollars, somethimes y dollars per minute for music which you incorporate. Usage has to be reported back to the library company. 3. Buyout libraries. Here you pay $50-$100 per compact disk. In return, you get unlimited, perpetual rights to use that disk in your products. This is the way that most low budget production is done. You probably get somewhat less choice and quality with buyout, but it's cheap<g>. Some of the buyout libraries I use are Music Bakery, Gene Michaels, and David Lieder. Most will let you have a 30-day audition of the material. Hope this helps… Bob Bruneau

David, I think the problem there is that the performer will have a copyright on his production of the public domain music. -John

David, Be carefull. The rights to the music may be public, however I'm sure that that particular recording artist's work is copyrighted. In other words, your neighbor with a piano, plays a classical tune…ok to use. Zubin Mehta plays a classical tune, you use, he sues. 🙂 On a similar subject, I found a great 5 CD colection of sound effects at Price Club. Fine print inside says "for home use only, no professional use". I'll be returning them. Best bet is probably to buy professional Royalty-free libraries. Good Luck, Don James TCR

David, Not only the performance generates rights, but in some cases later manipulations of score (they call it something else) and reorganizations of it can re-create a kind of ownership. Get something you like and ask a music copyright house what it would cost, but don't get vague on the specific use or the potential market.