[musictlk] Question about Rights to a Song

[Marion Gwizdala]

Debbie,
    As a rule of thumb,mechanical copyrights last for 85 years. Music 
copyrighted in 1928 or earlier are in the public domain. I am not an 
attorney, though, so you may want to check out copyright law. Also, I 
believe anyone is free to record copyrighted music, provided they pay the 
copyright holder the royalties that are due. I believe the royalty amount is 
$.0918 per track recorded. If you make 300 copies of a copyrighted song, you 
would owe the copyright holder $29.16.
    It is my understanding that copyright holders can waive their royalties, 
but they cannot change the amount that is due to them. In other words, if 
you wanted to record one of my songs, I could allow you to do so and waive 
the royalties, but I could not charge an amount other than the amount 
specified by law.
    The Harry Fox Agency collects royalties for their clients, along with a 
processing fee. They charge a minimum of 500 impressions, even if you only 
make 300 copies. If you intend to make fewer or want to ask a copyright 
holder to waive their royalties, you can get in touch with the copyright 
holder directly and make these arrangements. I did this on my last album. 
Two people waived their royalties and another only asked me for the amount 
based upon the number of copies I made.

Marion Gwizdala



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Debbie" <mouseless at mindspring.com>
To: "Music Talk Mailing List" <musictlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 6:30 PM
Subject: [musictlk] Question about Rights to a Song


>I know I did things in reverse by recording a cd first, and then asking 
>questions.  However, it was originally to be given to friends and family in 
>the beginning.
>
> In order to deal with more and more requests from those who've heard it 
> and want one or more of the sixteen songs, where can I go to see who owns 
> the rights to a given song?  I know about songclearance, and may use them 
> at some point.  I feel rather certain that most of the songs are in the 
> public domain with the exception of two.
>
> Then I am thinking about using the service of cdbaby to help market these 
> songs.
>
> Debbie Human
>
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