With all the new technology there have been so many good technological advances, but with the good came the bad. We businesses have taken off on the internet; messages can now be sent and received in minutes. Along with all the other advances was music. We no longer have to go to the store and buy a CD; we can purchase one of the songs on-line. Better yet, we can download it on Napster! We can print sheet music, and have access to movies before they even come out. Doesn’t this all seem to good to be true? Well it is. A lot of what we do on the internet is not legal at all. Surprisingly most people are not exactly sure about all this legal stuff when it comes to music and piracy.
? 
?
(note the encircled ‘P’ is not quite the cymbol but since one has not been created for the computer I found this image to put in it’s place).
What are these symbols? What do they mean? Most people would think they had an idea of the first one and very few would know of the second. If you are a musician of any kind these symbols should mean a lot, but even that is not the case sometimes.
With the rise of technology the once definite line between legal and illegal as become a bit shady. When can one copy a piece of music or sing a song at a local concert?
Writing and producing Music
You see the two symbols above and they represent two types of copyright. Most people only think about or recognize one; but there are two.
is a symbol that represents creation copyright. This copyright basically covers writers and composers. A composer has the rights to the song that he/she composed, and there is usually a publisher who is assigned to ‘sell’ the song.
is a symbol that represents recording performance production copyright which is the right of the performing recording artist(s) to their specific interpretation (production/performance) of the song/music which is recorded. However, the recording artist(s) can only use the music written by the composer under a copyright license! The performing artists create the additional copyright of their performance in the recording production – on top of the composer/lyricist creation copyright. That is why those “recording rights” are called in legal terminology “Neighboring Rights”.
Many people get these two rights mixed up. Most think that when a singer puts out a song on a CD, it’s the singer who would have to be contacted. But we have to remember that most of the singers we listen to didn’t write the songs they sing. So, not only would you have to get permission from the songwriter, you would also have to get it from the performer.
Downloading Music off of the Internet
This can be confusing to some but if I were to sum it up: In Canada it is legal to download music, but it is illegal to upload music. MP3’a are legal as well, this is because and MP3 is just a file format. Many of the MP3’s on the internet are put there by bands who want to gain publicity. “Is file sharing legal? It can be, but the vast majority of files shared on P2P (peer-to-peer) networks like KaZaA and Shareza violate copyright law.(7)” So, it’s ok to have the music and copy it for your personal use. The minute you give it away (which is in essence selling it) it’s illegal. Most people think it’s an issue of selling the copied material, but that’s not the case.
Sheet Music
This applies to many musicians around the world. What sheet music can you copy legally? Most composers (poets, song writers ect.) who are alive have the rights to their lyrics and should be paid for the performances and the reproductions of their works. What about performers who are dead? The performers (or their families) will have the copyrights until it expires. This usually takes 70 years. So after 70 years has expired, and if the copyright has not been renewed the sheet music is free game. So the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and many others are allowed to be copied. This is the same for choral music and instrumental music. When the composer is alive, the composer needs to be contacted, and he can give you the permission to copy his/her music (and remember noting comes for free). I thought I would include some links that provide you with some free sheet music
Violin music
http://www.theviolinsite.com/violin_music.html
Choral music
http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Worship music/ hymns
So, if you are at all concerned about doing things the right way: ask. Don’t assume that because a cites says it free and ok that it is. An important question you can ask yourself is “will the artist be loosing money if I do this?” Chances are, if the answer is yes it’s not legal and you could get into some trouble.
Sources
(1) http://www.reach.net/~scherer/p/copyrit1.htm#d2 a copyright page
(2) http://www.cba.org/BC/public_media/commercial/264.aspx
(3) http://weblogs.ucalgary.ca/kcharoer/forum_topic/canadian_music_copyrite_law
(4) http://www.cpcc.ca/english/infocopyholders.htm
(5) http://www.webopedia.com/didyouknow/internet/2004/music_downloading.asp
(6) http://www.ontarioartist.ca/en/perfprm_music_legal.htm
(7) http://www.worldlawdirect.com/article/1395/Is_downloading_music_legal%3F.html
Nedra Francis's Blog 