Vinyl to CD - Industry gets heavy :(

Interesting stuff, unfortunately my brain soon turns to mush when reading anything written in bureaucrat/law-speak.

Hencetoforthwithnotwithstanding, it did get me thinking more about copyright... I'm warping the topic a bit here sorry, but I'm curious about this 50yr business, I've seen printed scores where the copyright might say something like "(C)1936, renewed 1970".  How does that work and can it be done to mechanical copyright as well?

And what about songs (Moby's stuff for example) that use ancient samples that are out of copyright - would the composition royalties go fully to the new producer since no-one else is around to collect them?

Anyone more clued up about this than me?

And what about songs (Moby's stuff for example) that use ancient samples that are out of copyright - would the composition royalties go fully to the new producer since no-one else is around to collect them?

Once something has been "published" - according to the copyright definition - you can revise it or produce a new version, and copyright your version.  You stay legal with this so long as the current copyright holder(s) get whatever cut the copyright law says they are due.  The only time you would not owe the current copyright holder(s) anything is if the work has fallen into the public domain (in which case there are no current copyright holders).

The tricky part is being absolutely certain that something is in the public domain.  There are people / organizations that make a decent living checking this out for others.

The best way to "unfold" the mysteries of copyrighting, is to go to the Library of Congress website and spent some "quality" time reading.  Yes, it's chocked full of legal jargon, but it's not unsurmountable.  

OK here what l do in Australia....which is Legal

I am a member of the Australian Record Industry Assocation

There l have a licence with them for...a (Reproduction) sorry can't think of the right term at the moment....

But l can reproduce what l want....as long it is not for Retail sale...eg shops etc....

And pay them a percentage of each track....they have a formula for this..

Might be worth looking into over in England

WT

Just a thought

Could you post more details of this licence? Does this permit you to make copies for a third party as I was doing - i.e. the transfer and restoration business?

Andrew, your link didn't work for me.

Try this one.... http://www.loc.gov/copyright/  

Nope.

beetle Posted:
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Nope.  

Well Beetle, that is strange.  I checked it (previewed) when I put the post together and.... after I hit submit.  I just checked it again and it worked everytime for me.  

works for me too

Works for me too.  Netscape; IE; Mozilla.

Beetle, does the government have some reason to want to keep you out of it's web sites???

You might type the address into your browser rather than clicking on the link.  See if that works.

Could you post more details of this licence? Does this permit you to make copies for a third party as I was doing - i.e. the transfer and restoration business?

You might want to explore the possibility of some sort of PPL licencing - but whether they offer the same system as ARIA in Australia do (which, if it is affordable, seems like a good scheme), I'm not so sure.

The record companies certainly know how to alienate consumers…

THAT they do!  That they do!

Let's face it if they could shut down the whole secondhand record trade they probably would...

They tried.  In fact, after speaking out against it, Garth Brooks refused to let stores that sold used CDs carry one of his albums.  He later backed down, but I'll never buy one of his albums.  Just when I started listening to country, too.

Sorry Mr A R
Can't help at this stage...l am moving and packing...and have put away the contract.....when l un  pack i wil send you a copy

WT