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Copyright of songs is totally different from copyright of sound recordings. Different copyrights, different law. The internet has proved to be a kind of "Wild West" for copyright issues, but Joel is right--it is not wide open "anything goes." Best, John On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 3:18 PM, Joel Ackerman <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I am also a retired attorney; some experience with copyrights. Putting a > copyrighted item on a free website is as much an infringement as selling > it. I have a great article by Scott Adams (author of the Dilbert cartoons) > on this point. You need to check whether the songs themselves were > copyrighted and, if so, whether the copyrights are still in force. > > Joel Ackerman > > -----Original Message----- > From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto: > [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Haley > Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 11:47 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Another copyright question > > I hesitate to weigh in on this topic, because it is a big one. But, with > all due respect to Steve, everything is not under copyright. For starters, > US federal copyright law did not exist for sound recordings until 1972, so > there are only state law concerns regarding all such pre-1972 material. (we > are talking only US law here). What is dubbed "state law copyright law" > exists in only a handful of states, and it is really a branch of property > law, not true copyright law, which is all federal. The state law is fairly > pernicious, IMHO (I'm a retired lawyer who has studied this stuff for > years), and in the case of NY state law, ill-founded but still there. The > law of copyright as it pertains to recordings really needs to be > federalized by Congress, to get rid of the patchwork of inconsistent and > unclear state law. Given the state of Congress today, I do not look for > anything like that to be happening anytime soon, and given what is going > on, perhaps it is best that they don't, at least for now. > > The words "public domain" get misused a lot. For something to reach PD in > the US, it must pass thru copyright protection. Pre-1972 recordings, which > have never had any federal protection, are not in PD and cannot reach it, > because they never were copyrighted. They are protected by neither federal > copyright law nor PD. In general, PD has been nibbled away over the years > such that it barely exists in the US, at least in any of our lifetimes. > > As for record company lawyers, my (long) experience is that very few IP > lawyers understand much about copyright for sound recordings, and the > easiest legal opinion to give someone is always "no," especially where the > lawyer doesn't really know and the answers are not readily ascertainable. > Big record companies will just take the view that they own everything in > sight--that is plainly incorrect. And incorrect assumptions are very > plentiful in this area. > > The law of the rest of the world is much, much clearer when it comes to > copyright of sound recordings. Such law is generally covered by statute, > and and those statutes are reasonably clear, embracing a rational approach > to PD that is alien to our US law. > > Best, > John Haley > . > > > > > > > > On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 1:21 PM, Gary A. Galo <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > I thought that the Edison and Aeolian/Vocalion catalogs were public > > domain, because the owners declared them to be so. My memory could be > > faulty, also. Tim Brooks would know. > > > > Gary > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto: > > [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steven Smolian > > Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 12:45 PM > > To: [log in to unmask] > > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Another copyright question > > > > As far as I know, just about everything from 1877 to the present is > > protected in one way or another. There are orphan labels with > > uncertain ownership. > > > > In my opinion, putting commercial sound recordings on a web site has a > > greater potential down than upside. Other opinions may differ. > > > > There is a choice to be made between what you can probably get away > > with and the probable liabilities, should things turn nasty. People > > do this all the time. People acting as employees of institutions are > > putting their institutions at risk. Institutions have lawyers on > > staff to advise. My opinion. > > > > Steve Smolian > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto: > > [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James Roth > > Sent: Monday, May 22, 2017 12:53 PM > > To: [log in to unmask] > > Subject: [ARSCLIST] Another copyright question > > > > Hello again > > > > I have an LP made by A.B.C. (J. Naftali Records). Of singer Albert > Ortiz > > (The Yiddish Golden Voice of) > > I need to know if there's any chance of copyright issues. > > > > Might there be a list of labels that are definitely not copyrighted > > anymore. > > Of course, there's are the artists that might still be alive and > > copyrighted. > > > > I don't intend to make copies or sell them, just to put it on a free > > website. > > > > Regards, > > Ben > > >