[pd-discuss] Music in the Public Domain

Mon May 7 22:50:55 UTC 2012

Hi Adam,

Maarten is right: the unauthorised performance of a work is internationally understood to constitute an infringement of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner - see Article 11 of the Berne Convention or, to give a national example, the UK’s s. 19 CDPA. 

I agree that intuitively this doesn't seem to make much sense, but you have to remember that technically speaking not all recordings will be protected by copyright - for example, non-original sound recordings will attract no copyright, meaning that after the expiry of related rights they can be freely re-used. Also, the rights conferred to the different kinds of rightholders are often different in nature - as a result, when the rights of the performers and phonogram producers, for example, expire, communication to the public will not require payment of equitable remuneration to the collecting society representing them (PPL, SENA, etc...), although the exclusive rights of the copyright-holders may still need to be cleared. It is also important to remember that each of these types of rights goes to different people: the recording company holds some, the performers others, the authors others – this means that when one of them loses their rights they are unlikely to be comforted by the fact that the others still retain protection, thus explaining the lobbying for term extensions.

________________________________________
From: pd-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org [pd-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org] on behalf of Adam Green [adam.green at okfn.org]
Sent: 07 May 2012 21:06
To: Public Domain discuss list
Subject: [pd-discuss]  Music in the Public Domain

Maarten - I understood it differently. I thought that copyright still
applying to the lyrics, music etc of a recording made more than 50
years ago only restricted the covering of the song - not the actual
redistribution of the recording. ... (or else what would be the point
of the distinction between the recording copyright and the
lyrics/music copyright, and why all the fuss by The Beatles, Bono,
Cliff Ricard etc to get the copyright term extended?)

Rufus - any idea when this extension of 50 years to 70 years is due to
come into effect?

On 7 May 2012 19:29, Maarten Zeinstra <mz at kl.nl> wrote:
> Yes, you cannot freely distribute the song unless all layers of copyright
> have expired. Outofcopyright.eu has the following to say about sound
> recordings (in the UK) that are public domain:
>
> "Copyright in the sound recording has expired. Please note that a single
> item might be protected by multiple layers of rights. You may need to apply
> the Public Domain Calculator again to examine whether additional rights
> apply, such as copyright protection in any underlying literary or artistic
> work or performers’ rights in any performance that may be fixated in the
> sound recording."
>
> So this deals with the lyrics, sheet music, artwork, etc.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Maarten
>
> Kennisland | Knowledgeland
>
> t +31205756720 | m +31643053919 | s mzeinstra
> www.kennisland.nl | www.knowledgeland.org
>
>
>
>
> On May 7, 2012, at 19:07 , Sam Leon wrote:
>
> Thanks for the responses guys. I'm still trying to get my head round all of
> this.
>
> @Maarten -- do you mean to say that one is not free to redistribute a
> recording if the authorial copyright has not expired? This would render any
> song written by Sister Rosetta Tharpe not in the public domain.
>
> However, the song that I linked to ("Down By The River Side") and many
> others recorded by Rosetta Tharpe are traditional gospel songs, so this
> shouldn't matter too much even if it turns out to be true.
>
> Sam
>
> On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 4:40 PM, Maarten Zeinstra <mz at kl.nl> wrote:
>>
>> Also,
>>
>> Even if the recording is in the public domain, does not mean that the
>> lyrics and notes are in the public domain. You do not have the rights to
>> distribute a song where only the recording is public domain.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Maarten
>>
>> Kennisland | Knowledgeland
>>
>> t +31205756720 | m +31643053919 | s mzeinstra
>> www.kennisland.nl | www.knowledgeland.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On May 7, 2012, at 17:17 , Rufus Pollock wrote:
>>
>> > On 7 May 2012 16:10, Sam Leon <sam.leon at okfn.org> wrote:
>> >> Dear All,
>> >>
>> >> Quick question -- copyright for musical recordings made within the EU
>> >> expires after 50 years, but what about music that was recorded in the
>> >> US?
>> >
>> > Origin does not matter. BTW in the EU it will soon be 70 years due to
>> > the recent extension.
>> >
>> >> Are, for instance, Sister Rosetta Tharpe's US recordings from 1948,
>> >> available on the archive.org, available for free re-use within Europe?
>> >
>> > Yes - though IANAL etc. Also remember songs have both recording and
>> > authorial copyright in them.
>> >
>> > There used to be a long FAQ about all of this on, I thought,
>> > publicdomain.okfn.org based on our analysis of all of this for Elvis'
>> > That's Alright (done back in 2005-2006) but I'm not able to find this
>> > right now.
>> >
>> > Rufus
>> >
>> >> Advice much appreciated, as I'm due to be curating some of this amazing
>> >> vocalists songs for a website in the coming weeks.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks,
>> >> Sam
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Sam Leon
>> >> Community Coordinator
>> >> Open Knowledge Foundation
>> >> http://okfn.org/
>> >> Twitter: @noeL_maS
>> >> Skype: samedleon
>> >>
>> >>
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>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Co-Founder, Open Knowledge Foundation
>> > Promoting Open Knowledge in a Digital Age
>> > http://www.okfn.org/ - http://blog.okfn.org/
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>
>
>
> --
> Sam Leon
> Community Coordinator
> Open Knowledge Foundation
> http://okfn.org/
> Twitter: @noeL_maS
> Skype: samedleon
>
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--
Adam Green

Editor, The Public Domain Review
http://publicdomainreview.org/

The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://okfn.org/

--
Adam Green

Editor, The Public Domain Review
http://publicdomainreview.org/

The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://okfn.org/

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