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Archive of Classical Music

Greetings!

I am wondering about the legal aspects concerning the use of copyrighted material and more so about old music where the composer has been dead for more than a hundred years. Perhaps some legal eagle out there would like to comment.

Let´s take an exmple: W. A. Mozart, is his music absolutely free to use as MIDI-files in multimedia-presentations and similar applications or do you have to pay royalties to someone?

If it is free to use as I want, are there any limitaions if I want to publish his music in the form of Noteworthy files?

Why I ask and what I am driving at is a thought that I have got. I would like to publish as much of the classical composers music as possible without taking eny credit for it personally. I want to publish it on the Internet for everybody to copy, use, modify and play at their own leisure. I do not intend to accept any payment for my part in this and I do not want the scores or sheet-music to be subject to any copyright infringements at all.

It is my belief that the classical music should belong to the whole world, and if it is too old to give the composer or his surviving relatives royalties, why should publishing companies earn money by selling the composers scores at the steep prices as they tend to do.

I want to give the world a free source from which to collect free music, music that should never be forgotten. Direct access to a small part of the worlds inheritance.

(I hope someone will say that it is OK to go ahead, just follow these little rules of thumb so that the courts can´t get to you.)

Please feel free to comment on this.

Sincerely

Jan Hjelm Strömnäs SWEDEN

Re: Archive of Classical Music

Reply #1 –
As far as PLAYING classical music. See http://www.prs.com/midi.html This is Pierre Schwab's Classical Midi Archives, probably the most comprehensive collection of classical music on the net. I would suggest you visit there first, and maybe talk to Pierre about your project. He has probably had to deal with a lot of the problems you may encounter and may have some good rules of thumb for you to consider.

Regards,

Andrew

Re: Archive of Classical Music

Reply #2 –
Before you go ahead, consider this: where are you obtaining the source material for the scores? If you don't have access to the composer's original manuscripts, then you must be working from a published edition. Published editions are protected by the copyright of the publisher. You could find yourself in big trouble if you copy these editions and make them available for free.

Re: Archive of Classical Music

Reply #5 –
Except the Jan is in Sweden (and so, presumably, is his ISP), and will be subject only to Sweden's copyright laws. There are critical things like the date of publication of the music being used to consider, as well.

I think Pierre Schwob can produce the midi versions because the music being presented has no exclusive publishers (there are some exceptions) and so only a class action by the publishers would probably work, and hey! as far as I can see, Jan's and Pierre's visions are of great public service. I'm sick of these #@*&^%! publishing houses thinking they own the last word on the music. I bet you that they don't always go to the Liepzig University Archives - or wherever - before they publish.

I'll get off my soapbox now. ;-#)# (Beard and mo).

Andrew

Re: Archive of Classical Music

Reply #6 –
Click on http://www.supnik.com/ It is a site by an attorney that discusses international copyright laws and might give you some help. Search the net under "International Copyright Law" for other sources. That is how I found the referenced site.

It looks like "International Copyright Law" might be a specialty in the legal field.

Good Luck and hope Jan doesn't get discouraged by all the possible legal implications he might find or is pointed by by other forum users.

Re: Archive of Classical Music

Reply #7 –
It's really a wonderful idea you have. The copyright laws differ from land to land. But - the longest possible copyright worldwide is 75 years. This affects all countries in the European Community. Therefore - you can publish without any problem music of composers who died more than 75 years ago. The only exception is is you are using scores which are so-called "critical editions" or new versions of the piece because in these cases the scores are under a new copyright. When publishing vocal music you have also to look for the copyright of the author and/or translator of the text because these are also under copyright (of the same 75 years in the European community)

Now - good luck for your plan. I completely agree with your opinion regarding editors. And I am very interesed in your archive.

Best wishes
 

Re: Archive of Classical Music

Reply #8 –
To stay safe, simply use pre-wwII editions of the scores, and no one will complain. Ultimately, most editions are standard anyway, since altering the music would defeat the purpose.