Chet -

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. You cannot substantially change a copyrighted work (i.e., a new arrangement or adding lyrics to an instrumental) without the copyright holder's permission. That is what I was referring to initially. Arrangements of a PD work, can, obviously, be copyrighted by the new arranger, without any permission as there's no one to ask permission from!

With all due respect to you as a musician, the vast majority of musicians and writers I work with have little or no understanding of copyright law. They frequently can, and do, misunderstand the law in regard to copyright.

As to the necessity for money to be paid - copyright law is very, very clear. Whether or not for profit, YOU CANNOT COPY AND DISTRIBUTE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL without permission from the copyright owner. PERIOD.

I am also not an attorney, but I do have experience that equates to a paralegal certificate in the music publishing field. I have extensive history working with contracts, and international copyright law, and have worked in this field for 15 years. I will be the first to tell you when I don't know the answer to something.

As for the more calm postings here referring to Max's dealings with the HFA/NMPA attorneys, I'm afraid (sigh) that attorneys in our business come across as extremely heavy-handed when it may not necessarily be called for. That is something I have taken our company's in-house attorney to task for in the past. I don't think that a nasty "cease and desist" letter is a good first line. A polite "perhaps you aren't aware" letter would probably be best. But I can only make suggestions - at the end of the day, I cannot tell them how to do their job.