Wk1 Comment #1

Copyright “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” 

by Richard Stemple

Copyright has always been a great discussion in my music classes. All my middle school students to high school students have heard me talk about copyright laws and issues. I always found this especially interesting when I was teaching in a Catholic school were stealing is a sin. Well according to some of my students stealing copyrighted music from the Internet was only a small sin. I always enjoyed talking about copyright with middle school students end up because at this point they have all composed their own music or have written their own stories. Student students seem to have a problem in using copyrighted material from people that they don't know or from people they thought already had a ton of money so would matter if they obtain the song illegally. However they were very protective of their own music. Students were always divided that artist should always get compensation for their work while others said it's free advertising and they'll make their money in other ways. Some students felt differently when it came to their work, however some still felt it was okay to get music for free off the Internet.

Professor Joe Bustillos explained some great points in his presentation. I love the explanation of the 10 myths about copyright. I also enjoyed listening to Nathan from the expert Village, I was not aware that improvisation is not copyrighted unless it is recorded. That will be an interesting twist for my students in the future. It was interesting to also find out about Bridgeport vs Dimension films. I think the film answered many questions but also left some unanswered questions for the music educator. One example is copyright for the composer is for the lifetime +70 years but for Corporation is 100 years. This law becomes fuzzy when the composer has been dead for over 100 years yet the performance and recording are 71 years old. There are no living relatives and the corporation is claiming ownership. I believe this may still be up for debate, however I do believe I read somewhere if it is a recent recording then that Corporation owns the copyright. Here are some examples of music that I believe would qualify as public domain Robert Johnson performing Robert Johnson. Robert Johnson has been dead for over 80 years and had no relatives so his original recordings should be public domain. Another example would be Pablo Casals recordings of the Bach cello suites. Bach has been dead well over 100 years and Pablo has been dead over 80 years. I recommend everyone to listen to them if they get a chance Robert Johnson is one of the early creators of the Blues guitar genre and Pablo Casals played the best interpretations of the Bach cello suite ever. Here is a recording of Robert Johnson performing one of his most famous and memorable songs Sweet Home Chicago, enjoy.  

Fair use is very interesting, and could open the door to many different types of recording. I understand you can use recordings for teaching, the news, parity, or critical commentary. I also understand that there are certain conditions, the nature, the amount of the recording used, and its commercial effect however, those are all very ambiguous and can be interpreted in many different ways. My recommendations to everyone is use public domain music or video, or just create your own original work.  






Francine's Comment to Richard

Hi Richard!
Great posts on Wk1 readings and videos!  I agree with you on the copyright time line.  
You cited one example about the fact that copyright for composers are for a lifetime +70 years but for Corporations it is 100 years. I agree with you in regard to this law!  Much of the music from Western Civilization should be in Public Domain status, however because of the new time-frame copyright now last more than a lifetime.  You are so right when you say that "there are no living relatives and the corporation is still claiming ownership. So is this the case if we want to use samples from Bach, Beethoven, Debussy and Tchaikovsky and others in our media content?