Musescore.com's Alleged Copyright Issues - A Contention
I have just learnt that I can't upload my own arrangement scores (say Ed Sheeran's Perfect) for piano solo onto MuseScore.com whereby others will download it for a fee.
MuseScore's stand is they need to pay the copyright owners (i.e. Ed Sheeran or his publisher in my example) instead of me.
But what I fail to understand (anyone please enlighten me on this) is as follows: Neither Ed Sheeren, his publisher, or producer (comprising the commissioned arranger for Perfect) would have arranged the score for Perfect meant for piano solo playing. In other words, they own only the copyright to the composition (and lyrics). But it is still my ORIGINAL arrangement I've scored for piano solo (comprising my unique way to play the chords, injecting of my own counter melodies, etc.). So if someone likes to play Perfect on piano privately using my arranged original score for a fee, what's wrong with that? It is different from, for example, I use Perfect in its original form on my website, or I play Perfect on the piano and post in on YouTube. It is my own original score I'm selling (meant for others to play privately).
Is there an official email I can raise with MuseScore about this? So far I only see the Chatbot. Thanks!
Comments
You can't sell stuff you don't own. You don't own (the copyright for) Ed Sheeran's song "Perfect", and don't have Ed's permission to create a Piano arrangement.
If you had his permission, then your arrangement might have a copyright of its own.
What you do on your personal website is dangarous: Ed might sue you for copyright violations.
Publishing on musesescore.com is not, as there the score would just get taken down in case of a copyright claim
In reply to You can't sell stuff you don… by Jojo-Schmitz
Thanks for explaining this to me; it is indeed helpful! In my humble opinion, existing music laws are problematic because it protects only the composition and not arrangement. Take for example one of my original published works had its introduction section (instrumental only) being used by one of my national radio's intro music on one of their programmes without my prior knowledge or permission. I could not do anything because they only used my arrangement and not my composition.
In reply to Thanks for explaining this… by acosean
You can always use a service like ArrangeMe.com (Hal Leonard), where you can legally sell your arrangement.
For arrangements of copyrighted songs, you will earn a 10% commission on sales. (For original compositions and public domain arrangements, you will earn a 50% commission for all sales).
All details related to permissions, royalties and commissions are taken care of by ArrangeMe.
In reply to You can always use a service… by graffesmusic
Thanks for the recommendation, will explore that!