Seriously thoughtful How Copyright broke. Cory Doctorow

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Sounds like the discussion a while back about putting a lot of classical music back into copyright so the descendants (direct or collateral) of say J. S. Bach would be able to collect royalties.

Ye gods. Was that serious (as in, did someone really consider it)?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Ye gods. Was that serious (as in, did someone really consider it)?

It was brought up in a music discussion group where someone mentioned that there was going to be an attempt to get the EU bureaucracy interested in supporting it. I don't know how far if anywheres it went. It just stuck with me for it's sheer chutzpah. "My however many times great grandparent was a child of J. S. Bach or one of his 5 musical children and I should be getting money for use of their music!"

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Sounds like the discussion a while back about putting a lot of classical music back into copyright so the descendants (direct or collateral) of say J. S. Bach would be able to collect royalties.

It would only happen if some big corporations thought they could own copyright.

Of course an actual performance and recording of it of PD material has "performance copyright". You can't make and distribute copies of J. S. Bach CDs. I think in the USA they have made most recordings since 1928 be in copyright, even if it had previously expired?

Music copyrights:
Composition of the actual music.
Lyrics.
Each layout of the composition and lyrics (so you can transcribe and republish PD content, but not copy and distribute a new edition).
Translation of Lyrics (even if original PD).
A particular transposition for other instruments, or other new arrangement.
The live performance, so you have no right to record that personally even at it.
A legitimate recording of the live performance (studio or public).
The final distributed mix of a live or studio.
A broadcast (live or recording) is copyright and can only be recorded for personal use.
A cover version of a non-PD work has to pay composer royalty, but has its own performance/recording copyrights.

Some countries' radio & TV might pay a composer royalty, but be illegally not paying performance/recording royalties.

So a "royalty free" J. S. Bach needs you to find a PD edition of an arrangement and a bunch of musicians, unless you want ancient 78s (HiFi is from about 1935).