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Originally Posted by pwalker8
Here in the US, Ken Burns latest documentary, Country Music, just aired on PBS. It's a great documentary, btw, his best IMPO. To the point of this conversation, for those who dismiss public domain, it shows how various artists built on previous artists works, not only covering old tunes, but taking old tunes and giving them new words to create new songs. An example of this was two big hits from the early 60's. The first was a song by a male singer using the tune from an old Carter Family hit from the 30's. The second, was a rebuttal of the first song, using the same tune but with different words.
An example of minor change for a new copyright is the song Will the Circle Be Unbroken, where someone had come up with a new verse. The original is in public domain, but the new verse is under copyright.
One approach to copyright that is used in music, that I wish books would use is that you can get a blanket permission in music, i.e. a music publisher might get blanket permission for their artists to cover songs on albums. Thus, you don't have to go to each and every song writer to get permission to sing a particular song on an album. You of course have to pay a royalty to the copyright holder, but you can record it however you like.
Johnny Cash covered Nick Cave's song "Mercy Seat" on one of his American albums (that's the name of the albums series, btw). After listening to Cash's cover, I listened to the original. I suspect that listening to them, most people wouldn't identify them as the same song.
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Johnny Cash also covered the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt. I actually like his version better. Pain just seeps out of his version.
Apache