Re: Copyright Issues
By Angelo Rulli
On 96.11.23 Andy Latorre asked how to determine whether a song might be copyrighted. There is an agency whose sole purpose is to compile all the songs copyrighted in the U.S. To learn more, contact:
The Harry Fox Ageny
205 E. 42nd St.
New York, NY 10017
212-370-5330
One note of caution, I contacted them several years ago regarding a cassette recording I made of one of my street organs. They pursued the matter to the absurd degree that they demanded that I pay for the royalty on every song I intended to record, even though I had no intention of recording most of them. But the real irony was that, when they finally understood that the recording I was planning was from punched cardboard music, they had no category for such a composition in their computer categories. Even more ironic, when they realized how few recordings I was planning: 250, they finally figured out that it would cost them more for the paperwork than they would realize in royalties.
One onther aside, the letter of the copyright law requires that each and every performance of a copyrighted song be paid for through the Fox Agency. One can either pay them by the songs for each performance, or with a blanket payment per month or per year. Anyone, anywhere, who performs copyrighted music is obligated to pay these royalties. Think about that for a moment!
Hope this helps.
Angelo Rulli
The Mechanical Maestro (organ grinder)
St. Paul, Minnesota |
(Message sent Sat 23 Nov 1996, 04:15:10 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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