Copyrights and Compulsory Licenses
By Bill Jelen
Last Week, Mark Sachnoff wrote about compulsory licenses and asked:
> Does anyone know how QRS pays its royalties?
QRS pays their mechanical licenses through Harry Fox. Bob Berkman related to me that up until several years ago, Harry Fox would also license and collect the lyric reprint royalties so that QRS could print the words on the rolls.
I am also a BIG fan of the compulsory licensing provision. When I wanted to start Bam-Bam, I figured there was very little chance that I could get Warner Brothers to grant me a license to publish 20 copies of "Stairway to Heaven" on player piano roll. However, through a conversation with Mr. Roehl at Vestal Press, I learned about the compulsory mechanical licensing provision and Harry Fox. That provision requires the publisher to grant a license to anyone, even us "little guys".
An interesting twist is that the compulsory license only covers sound recordings. Printed lyrics are not covered under the compulsory licensing provision. And, since Harry Fox won't act as a middleman for lyric reprint licenses anymore, I am still forced to go to Warner Bros., (or Hal Leonard, CPP Belwin...) to request the rights to print a license to print 20 copies of the lyrics to "Stairway to Heaven". Some will grant a license, others (most recently, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones) will not. Also, although the mechanical rate is set out in the copyright law, the lyric reprint rate is not set. So, the publisher can set whatever rate they want to allow you to print the lyrics.
Bill Jelen
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Mechanical
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