Hi,

In this thread, about improving the lyrics of Isle of Hope, Guest with no name claimed: No one has the liberty to change the authors composition without licence no matter the reason

Is that correct (apart from the interpretation of the rules of punctuation)?

Does the writer of a song have an exclusive negative right to perform it? That would make all covers copyright violations. Or is this right given up when registering the song with one of the music rights management organisations? But then, what Guest with no name refers to here, is right to integrity, which is a moral right, and therefore usually can not be signed away.

* Can a writer forbid the singing of his songs?
* Can a writer forbid the singing of altered versions of his songs?
* Is the singing of a copyrighted song forbidden unless the writer allows it?

Most folk writers seem to regard it as a complement if their work is assumed to be traditional, yet, fifty to a-hundred years after the death of the writer is a long time, and a lot of folk music would be in copyright and could be restricted that way.

                                                                Mysha