I've been quite interested in hearing about the dilemma associated
with public recording and photography of collections. I never would
have guessed that this issue existed, or that someone would "rob" a
fellow collector of credit.  Since I collect organettes and encourage
public access ( http://www.organettehouse.com/ ), I've always also
encouraged photos and recordings.  I may be fortunate in that it's
unlikely anyone is interested enough in the "music" of organettes
to make selling CDs profitable (although clips have shown up on
YouTube, for example, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9shmr2YvFWA ).
But I suppose I'd feel somewhat hurt if someone distributed material
without crediting me as owner.

But since both private and public (museum) settings may disallow
recording, how will collectors become knowledgeable about this area
of our hobby?  Surely we can't expect only professionally recorded
and distributed music to meet the need -- look at all the recent
requests for recordings right here in MMD.  And haven't we all been
talking about ways to better "promote" our hobby to the novice?
I wonder if this isn't just one of the "hazards" of being in the
public eye: just like any celebrity, unauthorized material might be
distributed.

Here are some further "positive" options, as I see it:

1) Make your own recordings and pictures; saturate the market.  Give
them away at cost.  Post them on the Internet.

2) Have a simple "contract" available for anyone who asks to record.
Maybe something like http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
so that recordings and photos can be shared, but must be attributed
to you.

3) Don't worry about it; consider every visitor capable of using
recordings in every imaginable way.

The extreme reaction would be to simply hide the instruments and
disallow public access altogether, avoiding all problems but gaining
no benefit.  Just please think twice before saying "No" to public
recording -- it can also have great benefit when used appropriately.

Todd Augsburger - Roller Organs
http://www.rollerorgans.com/