Some well-known Christmas music is in the public
domain, but not all of it. If a church choir sings
"I wonder as I wander" by John Jacob Niles (1892-1980)
in church, it is within its rights in the U.S. under
17 U.S.C 110(3). (I don't know about the U.K.) But if
the choir goes caroling, this provision would no longer
seem to apply. On its face, caroling looks to me to be a
public performance. If the carolers recieve cookies and
cocoa, it begins to look like a performance for profit.
Has a church ever been billed for a license when its choir sang copyrighted music when caroling ? Has a shopping mall ever been billed for a license if it allowed strolling carolers to perform unlicensed copyrighted Christmas music within its space ?
Tim Phillips
<hrothgar[_at_]telepath.com>
Received on Thu Sep 21 2000 - 00:51:01 GMT
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