Have you considered contacting someone to put them out on a commercial CD compilation?

Is there anybody here who does this kind of stuff? How about for 60s soul,and for classical?

Roger




--- On Tue, 3/22/11, James DaMico <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: James DaMico <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [ARSCLIST]
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 10:54 AM

Hi Phil,

I don't know if you have come across this resource:
http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm but it may help
answer some of your questions regarding copyright.

Regards,

Jim DaMico


On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 11:45 AM, Phil Nohl <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> 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.
>