Writing as an ex-librarian I think that if the composer is still alive or
has died within the last 50 years he is entitled to royalties when you
perform his music in a public space. Just buying a copy of it doesn't give
you carte-blanche to perform it anywhere.
The Performing Rights Society in England exists to make sure that composers
do get their royalties. This applies to recorded music as well.
When I worked in the library we were not allowed to lend out new CDs within
3 months of their being issued.
Copyright laws are very complex. They also cover things like photocopying
music.
I am not sure whether the composer is entitled to insist that you own up to
playing his music. This seems a different matter.
Hope that's helpful. Things may be different outside the UK.
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stuart Walsh" <s.wa...@ntlworld.com>
To: "Lute Net" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2012 10:28 PM
Subject: [LUTE] seeking advice
I like to try and play some modern lute music. I also like to put these
efforts on youtube. Harmless enough, surely? My youtube 'channel' (as it's
called!) doesn't mention my actual name but a nickname that my wife thought
was funny: pluckedturkeys.
A few months ago a composer contacted me and he was very insistent that I
put my name on the youtube videos that I played of his music, clearly
indicating that it was not him playing. At first I put a link to his
website on my youtube channel but that was not enough. So I thought that
the simplest thing to do was to delete the videos and I did.
But now I'm wondering why I did that. I don't want to be impolite to the
composer but I can't understand what his problem was/is. And that's why
I'm asking advice here.
As I see it, if a composer publishes music then anyone who buys it legally
is free to play it and to play it in a public place - like youtube. It
must be very disappointing for a composer to hear his/her music
mangled/misinterpreted etc. But surely that is always a possibility once
the music is published and in public space. And once the music is
published it seems to me (that's why I'm asking for advice) wholly
unreasonable to expect control over the naming of whoever wants to try and
perform the music
So: is it in any way reasonable for a composer to ask/insist that I put my
name on youtube videos? The whole thing sounds so utterly ridiculous and
implausible that there must be some other explanation. The only obvious
thing I can think of is that the composer is worried that my clunky
efforts might be misunderstood as the composer's. Should I worry about
that? (More to the point? Why are they worrying about that?)
I really may be missing some point. Please tell me! Otherwise I'm now
thinking - I enjoy trying to have a go at some of this person's music - I
actually value it -so I'll just go ahead and stick it on youtube!
Stuart
To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
