[musictlk] Question about Rights to a Song

Thu Feb 28 14:29:16 UTC 2013

    I beg to differ that Brandon's reply was "100% on the money". Copyright 
holders have no flexibility in determining the amount of royalties. As my 
previous message stated, though I am not an attorney, copyright holders are 
required to charge either the statutorily determined amount per track or 
waive royalties. They are not free to negotiate the amount of royalty they 
receive. The statement that telling a copyright holder that you have already 
recorded a song might make the price higher is not completely accurate.This 
may cause them to not be willing to waive copyrights or be less motivated to 
allow a smaller track count, but it will not nor, as I understand the law, 
change the per track amount they charge.  The other part of Brandon's 
message stated that songs written prior to the 1930s are in the public 
domain. Copyrights extend for a period of 85 year; therefore, songs written 
prior to 1928 are in the public domain. If anyone has objective 
authoritative information that differs from what I understand, please post 
that resource for us all to see.

Fraternally yours,
Marion Gwizdala


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Timothy Clark Music" <timothyclarkmusic at me.com>
To: "Music Talk Mailing List" <musictlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 3:04 AM
Subject: Re: [musictlk] Question about Rights to a Song


> Brandon, i just checked my email and just saw this thread. and i must say, 
> you are 100 percent on the money. remember, people care about their 
> intellectual property. that's why their's things set in place such as the 
> harry fox agency.
> anyway, it's 3 in the morning as i write this so i hope everything's 
> understandable. ahahaha.
> anyway, i hope everyone's answered the original question. i think brandon 
> did  a fantastic job of summing it up.
> i just want to point out one real quick thing before i crash. check to see 
> if all this is tax deductible. you know, things such as touring and even 
> recording can be tax deductible.
> the life of a musician is greatly overlooked sadly. their is always loop 
> wholes and that's especially true in the music industry.
> in the christian side of things such as the part i work with people don't 
> get screwed over by big labels but they still do. it's not as regular 
> though when you are dealing with a christian based label. anyway, i hope 
> this helps.  have a good night
> Timothy
> Your friend in the music industry
> http://www.timothyclarkmusic.tumblr.com
> 7244011224
>
> On Feb 28, 2013, at 2:25 AM, Brandon Keith Biggs wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>> You need to go to Harry Fox Agency.
>> http://www.harryfox.com/
>>
>> It isn't a big deal if you are giving away the CD, but if you are selling 
>> it with covers you must get rights or stop distributing the CD. If you 
>> want to perform the songs you need to join either ASCAP, BMI or SESAC. 
>> The only time this is not true is if:
>> 1. You write all your own songs.
>> 2. You perform almost exclusively open domain works like music written 
>> before the 1930s...
>> 3. You have a written contract signed by both parties giving you the 
>> right to perform the song from the owner of the song.
>> When you contact the people, don't tell them you already have the song 
>> recorded. Tell them you would like to have it on your CD. That will lower 
>> the price considerably.
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Brandon Keith Biggs
>> -----Original Message----- From: Debbie
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 3:30 PM
>> To: Music Talk Mailing List
>> 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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