New Music USA Resources New Music USA offers informational resources that help composers, their collaborators, and their commissioners work to create and promote new music. Interested in learning more about other organizations that provide support to composers and performing organizations? Take a look at this list of national organizations that might help fund your upcoming endeavors! ASCAP & BMI - Protectors of Artists or Shadowy Thieves? By Harvey Reid www.woodpecker.com NOTE: I first wrote this article in 1993 when I became intrigued with the complexity of the music licensing system, and to help educate those who are affected by ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. I have been tinkering with it ever since trying to keep it more up-to-date, since I want to help shed some light on a complicated situation that has a large impact on musicians, music listeners and places where music happens. My experience is that musicians, venues and the general public know almost nothing of this system that has a great deal of influence in the music business, and involves nearly a billion dollars annually. These organizations exist by a strange set of legal circumstances, and are very little understood or regulated, yet they have a wide influence and control a lot of money in the modern music industry and in hundreds of thousands of places of business.
Copyright Legal concept regulating rights of a creator to their work Copyright is the exclusive right given to the creator of a creative work to reproduce the work, usually for a limited time.[1][2][3][4][5] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[6][7][8] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States. Some jurisdictions require "fixing" copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is often shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[citation needed][9][10][11][12] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[13]
American Composers Forum Copyright Limbo I’m sure it is no surprise to anyone that copyright is not a simple thing. When you deal in international law, things get even worse. As base, there are compositions that are under copyright protection, and there are compositions in the Public Domain (no copyright protection). Public Domain If you were to record Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos (written around 1715) – the compositions are in the Public Domain, and you can release your recording with no worries about paying licenses to anyone. Copyright in Effect WGAW Registry Welcome to WGAWRegistry.org, the official script and screenplay registration service of the Writers Guild of America, West and world's number one intellectual property service. Since 1927, the Writers Guild of America, West Registry has been the industry standard in the creation of legal evidence for the protection of writers and their work. When you register your script prior to submitting it to agents, managers, or producers, you document your authorship on a given date should there be unauthorized usage.
Copyright Law and Public Domain Sound Recording Rule of Thumb: There are NO Sound Recordings in the Public Domain in the USA. Songs and Musical Works have always been protected under U.S. federal copyright law. But sound recordings and records were so new and rare in the early 1900s, they were not included in the Copyright Act of 1909. Until 1976, sound recordings were protected by a hodge-podge tangle of state, county, and city laws. Many state and local laws included sound recordings under common law, which meant that ownership was forever and, unlike copyright protection, ownership of a sound recording would NEVER expire. The Copyright Act of 1976 created a copyright category called Sound Recordings that now provides federal copyright protection for CD's, MP3's, WAV files, records, and other music recordings made after February 15, 1972.
MPEG The IA California Locals have been working with a large coalition of guilds, unions, producers, small businesses and other associations to promote the enhancement and expansion of California’s production tax incentive program. One component of this Alliance’s efforts is the creation of an online petition to show our legislators the vast amount of public support for the passing of AB 1839, the California Film and Television Job Retention and Promotion Act. Click here to view all Guild articles.
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