altering music

Forwarded from one of my correspondents:  

    When I pay a royalty fee to perform a piece of music -- eg.: rent the music or pay an annual fee to ASCAP -- have I agreed to play it as written, barring performance errors or minor adjustments to fit the available instruments or performance site?

     Or am I entitled to play it any way that I wish, including altering the melody in a fundamental way that does not conceal the identity of the original music but clearly does not leave it as the composer intended either?

     Or does this vary with each individual royalty agreement? Is there a basic trade practice for this question?

Mark Charette
<charette[_at_]sneezy.org> Received on Sat Aug 05 2000 - 14:39:16 GMT