Copyright in arrangements
Just wondering,
If i got a pop song from say 2015 and transcribed the melody and chords ect. for a local band which we would mostly use for rehearsals maybe a few concerts and I didn't seek permission from the writer. Should that be copyright infringement? Or if I got a legal arrangement for anyone's use and just changed parts or moved a couple bars to another instrument because we don't have that instrument. Is that still infringement?
Comments
https://musescore.com/community-guidelines (Respect copyright)
It's important to realize that that most of us here are musicians, not lawyers, and also laws differ from country to country. So this isn't a great place to get advice. But still, I can tell you with some confidence that in most countries, merely creating the arrangement isn't any sort of violation. It's an issue only if you "publish" the arrangement - which includes thing like posting publicly to the Internet.
In reply to It's important to realize… by Marc Sabatella
Which it comes from: https://musescore.com/groups/improving-musescore-com/discuss/5044610
For information, HTH
Using it for rehearsal should not be a copyright violation (unless it is a public rehearsal), performing it in a public concert is, whether you perform it for money or not.
Whenever you publish stuff, put out into the public in whatever form, you need the copyright holder's permission.
If something is free for anyone's use, you can most probably rearrange to your heart's content, unless the copyright note explitictly forbids, like e.g. CC BY-ND
In reply to Using it for rehearsal… by Jojo-Schmitz
Is the checkbox "Keep this score private" working when uploading scores in M3? Can the Copyright Police see private scores now?
In reply to Is the checkbox "Keep this… by hopefulstrider
It works (and always did) and nobody but you, the people you share the secret link with and the groups you share it with (and the site admins) can see it.
Feel free to check my account on musescore.com, not a single score visible, but I do have 330 scores stored there currently.
In reply to It works and noby but you… by Jojo-Schmitz
OK Jojo. I've had two emails from Musescore recently saying that three scores I have online (private scores) are infringeing someones copyright and will be taken down. Do the Site Admins search through private scores to monitor possible copyright infringements?
In reply to OK Jojo. I've had two… by hopefulstrider
They do on occasion and on special request of certain publishers they are currently negotiating with. At least that's my understanding.
See also https://musescore.com/groups/improving-musescore-com/discuss/5044887#co…
In reply to They do on occasion and on… by Jojo-Schmitz
Thanks - it's useful to know ....
True story.
A university concert band gave a concert while on tour. A trombone player accidentally left his music folder behind. Someone found it the next day. It was full of photocopies of the bands concert music. The person took the folder to the publisher and the university was fined almost a million dollars for copyright infringement. Contracts vary but in most cases, if you make a copy and you loose the original, you have to buy a replacement. You need permission from the holder if you want to do ANYTHING if you want to stay out of trouble. Not getting caught is not the same thing as being OK. Otherwise copyright doesn't mean anything. Bummer, I know.