Greetings from Wisconsin
This will no doubt be my first and only message to the list group, so please forgive me if it's overly windy.
I collect amateur one-of-a-kind Home Recordings from the 1930s to the 1960s (most in my collection of 5000 discs date from the 40s and 50s). My question concerns the rights I have, if any, to original music (songs). I do most of my buying on eBay and most of those discs are sold by dealers who have purchased the recordings at estate sales, auctions, or flea markets. On occasion I do buy discs directly from a family member, and in all cases, that family member has no interest in the recordings (hard to believe, but true) - and none of the original songs I own came to me in this fashion. Original music is quite rare. At most I now own around twenty or so.
There are generally two types of original-song recordings I've encountered. One is a disc cut in a home (using a commercially-produced record cutter), and the other is an amateur (or semi-pro) recording at an independent studio. The one-of-a-kind discs I most recently purchased were cut at The Globe Recording Studio in Nashville around 1957 (that is one example). Examples of both of these types of recordings may be found on the "Oddball and Original Music" page of my website devoted to amateur recordings: www.snapshotsinsound.com
Would my first step be to find out if these original songs were ever copywritten? And how is that done? And if, for example, it is determined that no copyright exists, is there a step I should take (or can take) to obtain whatever rights I may have? Keep in mind that finding a living relative to the musician who cut a one-of-a-kind disc would be next to impossible (in most cases). And how much of my time must I exhaust to seek out a living relative?
I don't want to muddy the waters any more than necessary, but I also collect amateur Home Movies, and I have in the past used Home Recordings to underscore short films. Several examples of these can be seen on my YouTube site (ID: monkeymotordrome). "Talent Show" uses an original song cut in a Chicago studio, while (for example) "Harry Moran: King of Karaoke" uses no amateur original music. In Harry's case, am I even allowed to use copywritten material in such a fashion (an amateur singing along to commercial songs from the 1940s)? Since I have never made any money off of these small projects, I believe I am relatively safe.
It is difficult to find any clear cut answers to my questions on the internet because so few folks collect or deal with such discs. And with no funds to seek legal counsel, I will cast my queries to you, the reader.
Thank you,
Phil Nohl
(not the Phil Nohl at philnohl.com)
PS. Those 1957 recordings cut in Nashville are superb. An unknown musician (with great songs) strums his acoustic guitar and sings with both Roy Oribison and Hank Williams-like qualities. I would love to send a few of these tunes to several Oldies stations across the country, but once I let the cat out of the bag, and they are no longer one-of-a-kind, I fear any rights I may have had might disappear. It would be tremendously exciting to release a few "new" songs from the 1950s, but obviously I wouldn't want to give away any (possible) royalties. And though this comment appears in the Post Script, it is an idea currently weighing very heavy on my mind. Perhaps I should simply share these discs with everyone and not be concerned about rights.
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