Re the articles by Damon Atchison and Bob Loesch on copyright
infringement when copying old rolls.

I was trying to not throw myself into this again, but here goes:

(1) Distinctions must be made between the

  PERFORMANCE copyright, i.e., the copyright which attaches to a
  unique sound recording of a particular piece of music;

  ARRANGEMENT copyright  (I've previously stated that in a player piano
  roll situation, this might also be a consideration; i.e., a roll
  performance might also constitute an arrangement), and the

  COMPOSER copyright; i.e., the copyright which attaches to
  a particular song.


(2) No Federal PERFORMANCE copyright attaches to a sound recording
"fixed" prior to  February 15, 1972 (see Baxter MMD article 3/24/98).

Thus one might be able to copy old rolls and not risk Federal
PERFORMANCE copyright infringement copyright. (Caution: some states
may offer a state law remedy as to performance infringement for
recordings "fixed" prior to  February 15, 1972.)  However, this begs
the question of whether roll copying infringes an ARRANGEMENT
copyright which may exist as to the unique version of the song on the
roll (this is strictly theoretical thinking on my part -- proving
ARRANGEMENT infringement is rather difficult), and the COMPOSER
copyright.


(3) COMPOSER copyrights must _always_ be a consideration.  People issuing
rolls should check with the Harry Fox Agency (http://www.nmpa.org) to
see whether a mechanical license is required for the song.

A mechanical license is where the composer, or his heirs, get a royalty
for your using the song in a sound recording.  It's cheap (like 6 or 7
cents per copy, depending on length of song -- minimum license = 500
copies, thus $35.00 or so).  The Harry Fox web page has a nice explana-
tion of what mechanical royalties are, how they're calculated, etc.


In short, you _may_ be okay copying pre-February 15, 1972 rolls from a
Federal PERFORMANCE copyright basis (and I stress *may* -- there are
possible state law remedies available to folks on a performance
copyright basis, and the issue of possible ARRANGEMENT infringement)
BUT you cannot set aside the COMPOSER's copyright interests -- if the
song still enjoys copyright protection, mechanical license fees must
be paid.

Hope this doesn't muddy the waters ;-)

Tim Baxter
Meliora Music Rolls
Atlanta, GA

P.S.  This missive _does not_ address issues of "Performance rights",
another right vested in a composer when their songs are publicly
performed -- i.e., as raised in Karl Ellison's 4/15/98 note.
The web pages by ASCAP, BMI and SESAC explain these issues:

    http://www.ascap.com
    http://www.bmi.com
    http://www.sesac.com

 [ Thanks once again for your non-professional, non-client, and
 [ quite valuable thoughts, Counselor!  :)  -- Robbie