The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #85885 Message #1594723
Posted By: Ferrara
01-Nov-05 - 12:13 AM
Thread Name: Getaway 2005 Permissions Request
Subject: RE: Getaway 2005 Permissions Request
I posted this in the 3rd and final setlist thread, but I think it belongs here.
Ron Davies named the authors of several songs he sang at the Getaway, then said, "I definitely have no objection to being recorded, but I have no idea of copyright considerations."
That started me thinking about something Bill pointed out, namely that there's a difference between distributing modern songs and trad songs. Here's what I wrote:
"Ron, copyright is a question I have started wondering about.... If a CD full of recordings is all Trad, or stuff written by the singer (who has already given permission) the question doesn't come up. If it's by other authors, though ... Some would be fine with it if no money changes hands (except actual costs), others might well not!
In a way, if there's a great song by a songwriter who wasn't at the Getaway, and it's not a song that's commonly heard, I think it's nicer, to say the least, to learn the song from buying the author's CD rather than by recording someone's version of it. In fact that's what I did, for one of my "I-must-learn-that" songs from the Getaway. (For another one, I asked the author and he said it's published on Mudcat.)
Just something to consider. It's hard enough, logistically, just getting permissions from the singers. It's harder to figure out which songs were written by whom and/or are still under copyright. But maybe we should at least try? (I don't want to make even more work and complications for Ebbie but do feel we should do our best to keep this both legal and fair)"
Any thoughts?