Brad Fuller wrote:
david wrote:
Bob van der Poel wrote:
Anyone know much about the legalities of posting music recorded by
oneself, but written by someone else? I put up a few recordings on my
web site, mostly as a demo of MMA ... but I got to wondering the
other day if some nice lawyer is going to be knocking on my door? I'm
not too worried since I do live in Canada, and the server is
<somewhere in Europe>. But, still ... one has to wonder.
In my case, I didn't write the music. But, I'm the "artist" (and
recording engineer, etc.). And, I'm not selling anything. And, they
are just demos.
So, should I worry? Should I take them down?
Assuming the original composition was NOT released under some kind of
"free" license by the composer - you should get permission to
perform/record the composition. You MIGHT be liable for royalties.
If they want, they can take you to court for infringement
Yup.
My church pays royalties each year or quarter, I forget which, for the
songs we use in services.
Your church is paying royalties to a licensing company such as ASCAP/BMI
for those performances.
CCLI - the biggie in the Contemporary Christian music biz, I guess.
I think Bob's question has to do with several rights: the mechanical
rights since he recorded the song, the performance rights since he
performed on it, and I think there might be a duplication right for the
composition if it was done someplace else. But, beyond the rights, it
just sounds like Bob recorded someone's copyrighted song. And, maybe he
arranged it in a different way (and other question.) In general, if you
are offering copyrighted music to download from your site you'll need a
license to do so from the copyright holder(s).
I think a good suggestion would be to contact an attorney that handles
these kinds of issues.
--
David
gnome@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
authenticity, honesty, community
