Why is my work copyright infringed?
I decided to make an arrangement of Cant Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley using only voices and it was completely original. I didn't copy anyone eles work or anything yet it was taken down. This is the exact info that was sent to me:
We received a report that your score I Cant Help Falling In Love is infringing on someone else's author rights. We have taken down this content from MuseScore for the time being.
Reportedly infringed copyright:
Artist: Haley Reinhart
Song: Cant Help Falling In Love
Publisher: Imagem
Can someone explain what this means and why this happened even though i didnt copy Imagems piece. I completely made it on my own. If this wasnt a mistake, can someone explain how im supposed to get rights to songs in the future? I thought I could post what I wanted as long as It is completel original and not copied from anyone else.
Comments
I'm not familiar with your arrangement, but you should direct questions about copyright notices via mail to copyright@musescore.com
Well, Elvis isn't dead more then 70 years (some say he's still alive), so there's still a copyright on his songs?
You may want to add a snippet (audio, image, ...) of your work to a comment on this post, or link to your work on another website which will make it easier to address you inquiry.
As you mention you made an adaptation of "Can't Help Falling in Love", you need to have the proper permissions to make it publicly available. If you are based in the UK, this may help: http://www.mpaonline.org.uk/%20how-can-i-find-copyright-owner-permissio…
Now this represents an interesting issue.
The copyright infringement is reportedly against Haley Reinhart who has released a cover version of the song.
She can't possibly have author rights on the song, but could possibly have copyrighted her arrangement.
The original authors are George Weiss, Hugo Peretti & Luigi Creatore
The original publishers were Gladys Music, Elvis's publishing company.
Whateve - unless you can afford to hire a copyright lawyer to argue your case you're on a loser.
In reply to Now this represents an by ChurchOrganist
Indeed... very interesting, given the song's history.
I am fascinated at how arranging 12 semitones (including octaves) could have such consequences. (The tune Happy Birthday to You comes to mind.)
I wonder if Palestrina, Monteverdi, et al. had infringement issues.
Although, come to think of it, after the fall of the Roman Empire - and when Arabic numerals came into play - the devil wanted to copyright the number '666'.
However, at the time he couldn't find a decent lawyer... :-)
To address the larger issue, though:
Regardless of how "completely your own" you make an arrangement, the copyright on the composition still applies. This is a basic tenet central to copyright law in virtually all countries - an arrangement is a "derivative work" and you need permission to distribute a derivative work. The details of how this works varies from country to country, so consult a lawyer in your particular country for more information, but basically, no, you cannot normally post your own arrangement of a copyrighted song.
I find it interesting that Imagem is a music PUBLISHING company. From the Imagem website: "Imagem Music represents the publishing rights in more than 100,000 songs including:"
Owning publishing rights is not the same as ownership of the copyright. So what exactly is the infringement?
I'd love to see the wording of the actual complaint.
In reply to I find it interesting that by jhouck
It's not uncommon at all for publishing companies to own the rights for songs they publish. Often just the print rights (as opposed to mechanical/recording rights).
In reply to It's not uncommon at all for by Marc Sabatella
Yes, the print rights would be understandable. However, it's interesting they name a performing artist as part of the complaint. Food for thought ... cheers.
At the risk of sounding pedantic, I couldn't resist looking further into this. As a real time musician, 45 years a guitarist, (I perform covers of dozens of songs) and electronic synthusiast, I'm curious when these things pop up.
What I found: It appears Imagem's music production company was recently acquired by ole, a Canadian music rights firm. The acquisition included 240,000 tracks from Imagem. Reinhard had recently released singles, including the Presley tune, and an album through ole. There lies the connection to her I think.
As ole is on the fast track to success, I'd assume they are attempting to squash anything they see as "infringement" on their catalog.
http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/imagem-production-music-acquired-…
Cheers.