Re: Re: Response to inquiry about legal recordings for performers

Section 110 of the Copyright Act provides that certain performances are not infringements. Performance of a musical workof a religious nature in the course of services at a place of worship or other religious assembly is such a performance.
Jim Brennan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roy Murphy" <murphy[_at_]panix.com>
To: "CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property" <CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2003 3:00 PM Subject: [CNI-(C)] Re: Response to inquiry about legal recordings for performers

>
> On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 5:28pm, info[_at_]joybutler.com wrote:
> > First, if the choir performed in public, it should have had a public
> > performance license to cover the performance of the songs - unless the
> > songs are in the public domain (i.e., the copyright in the songs has
> > expired). ...............
> Most choirs sing in their churches in the context of a worship service
> for which an admission has not been charged. Most choirs purchase sheet
> music (one copy per musician) from a music store or publisher. While
> some of the works are public domain, the editions available for sale are
> typically not. Some music editor has arranged the parts or altered the
> accompanyment and copyrighted that edition. It is generally diffiult to
> determine what parts of an old piece are "original" and what parts are
> claimed copyright. Nevertheless, many editions are prepared, marketed
> and sold with the intent that choirs would purchase them and use them in
> services. I am not aware of any caselaw which suggests that this use is
> anything other than a Fair Use.
>
> Choirs do not, as a rule, pay for performance licenses if they sing as
> I've described above. We might get into philosophical arguments over
> whether this is infringing or fair use. But suffice it to say that any
> publisher stupid enough to take on a church is in for a mess of bad
> publicity. If you think that the outcry over the Girl Scout songbook was
> loud, try to take on American churches over worship services.
>
> Tape recordings are another issue. It's possible that a fair use case
> could be made if they were given to the choir members themselves for the
> purpose of studying the music and performance, but if they are to be
> sold, licenses should be aquired and considered a part of the cost of
> duplication.
>
> I once sang in a choir which did annual fund raising concerts. They
> aquired performancce licenses. If they intended to make and sell tape
> recordings, they aquired mechanical licenses as well. As we were
> preparing for a concert tapes of a piece that the same choir had
> performed some years earlier were distributed. They were marked with the
> name of the piece "for study proposes only. Do not duplicate." Abd, in
> fact, that is how we used them. The educational purpose and non-profit
> nature of the use was important to establish an argument for Fair Use.
>
> Roy Murphy \ CSpice: A Mailing List for Clergy Spouses
> murphy@panix.com \ http://www.panix.com/~murphy/CSpice.html
>
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<https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/>. Received on Fri Oct 17 2003 - 20:40:04 GMT