Claimed copyright on public domain works
I have been surprised to see that many, if not most, classical works hundreds of years old that have been uploaded to the MuseScore sheet music repository have copyright notices like "All Rights Reserved" on them. (Let's leave aside the historical and current significance of the phrase "ARR", but the upshot is that on an original work, the whole notice is restrictive.) Why do people do this? In most countries, including the US, you can't claim copyright unless you have made some sort of creative contribution. The toil of transcribing a Bach minuet into MuseScore does not count. Such notices, if valid, would interfere with downloading, printing, modifying, etc., which presumably the uploader does not want to do. Aside from the fact that it has no validity, it seems against the spirit of the repository. I conjecture that the transcriber does not want some imagined greedy person selling the results of their toil. I'm a relative newbie, so I may be missing something. Any thoughts on this?
Comments
Claiming rights to something is different that having rights to something.
Fighting ignorance and dishonesty is a life-long endeavor.
Regards,
In reply to Claiming rights to something by xavierjazz
if we're talking about MuseScore.com, it's just the uncertainty.
If I decide to save online in the dialog box must indicate the type of license.
Special cases aside, not being experts, some prefer to leave the default setting?
The rule is that you are not allowed to claim copyright on music which is in the public domain.
You are, however, allowed to claim copyright on your edition - ie the places the page turns have been place, any fingering or phrase marks which have been added, any realisations of ornaments you have added, or other markings not in the orginal music but added to help the modern performer.
I am engaged in transcribing organ music to be played from Tablet PCs or iPads. I copyright every edition I produce. I do, however, release single pieces under a Creative Commons licence.
I also produce albums containing several pieces which are designed for purchase, and contain added value material.
The bottom line is that new editions of the great composers take a lot of time and effort to produce, and some people are prepared to pay for that.
If you're content with a scruffy scan from IMSLP, then that's your right to download and play from it.
In reply to The rule is that you are not by ChurchOrganist
I think we're all agreed on that, co. My point was only that lots of people claim copyright on transcriptions for which they have not done any editorial work.
Shoichi, you are probably right about the default setting explanation. And doubtless MuseScore has it that way to protect the creative artist who might accidentally give away his new work... I actually had to scratch my head how best to make my two uploads clearly public domain. The most obvious choice ended up as "Universal" both times. I changed them to "Public Domain Mark 1.0" as that was the only one that would be meaningful to most people.
Xavierjazz, good to know we're on the same side!