Well, heck. A few months ago, I went to copyright.gov site, and I found a page that stated clearly that a person cannot claim copyright to a PD song itself merely by making a new arrangement of it. He can copyright his own arrangement, but he cannot copyright the song itself.

Now I can't find that page for you. It was too good to last, I guess.

Think about it. Suppose Joseph Oldtimer writes a hit song in 1888. If his copyright doesn't expire someday, the govt would be responsible for protecting the fractional rights of numerous descendents. Doesn't make sense, and no govt does it.

But if the govt allows Billy Bluegrass to come along 80 years later and copyright it all over again just because he put in some new chords, we are back where we started - spending public money for years and years.

And if Harriet Heartthrob comes along and records it with a pretty flute harmony part, she has no right to copyright the old tune. She can copyright the flute part, but the govt is done protecting that old tune.

I realize that doesn't answer all your questions. For example, how does one find out how old an old song really is? But it should help with all the bullies who claim copyrights to which they are not entitled. And that includes Hal Leonard, Inc.

ASCAP, BMI and SESAC are nothing but a kind of collection agency. They are supposed to collect royalties for legitimate performances of a member's own work.