Does anyone know if it is breaches any copyright to take jazz standards say written in the 1950's, work up a solo pieces of the melody and the underlying chord structure and then distribute them? Any advice would be gratefully received.
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Double Bass Copyright of jazz standards
- Thread starter DoubleBassBass
- Start date
It doesn't, as long as you get a mechanical license for the song you plan to cover. The licenses are compulsory (meaning the publisher must grant it to you) but you do have to pay a fee based on how many copies you distribute.
Here's an article with more in-depth information: Invalid Link Removed
Here's an article with more in-depth information: Invalid Link Removed
If by distribute you mean sell in audio format, you need to pay the publisher to be legit.
One alternative is to take the chord changes of standards, and then create your own melodies and solos. I heard this is called "Contrafacts" -- don't mind my spelling -- and I don't think it violates copyright because its the melody that is copyrighted. There are tons of songs that use exactly the same chord changes, but they are different songs...
I just dealt with a couple months of copyright headache for a book I was working on. I eventually scrapped the transcriptions section because of the cost.
It's about $100 per tune through Hal Leonard. Chord changes are not copyrightable, but, if you do anything with the melody or lyrics (or any arrangement of the tune) then you must get a license.
It's about $100 per tune through Hal Leonard. Chord changes are not copyrightable, but, if you do anything with the melody or lyrics (or any arrangement of the tune) then you must get a license.
If you use an existing melody of course you re going to need to pay for the pleasure but if you are vague with the melody and careful not to use too much of it you can get away without paying, especially if you use your own title and just 'quote' small sections. Ultimately if you are not making any money from it nobody is going to bother taking you to court I guess.
Transcriptions of solos is a weird area I think, I mean the rights to the tune lie with the composer and in theory the rights of any solo should lie with the soloist but these are not really recognised as compositions so, unless already published, it is a bit vague who owns them. In jazz terms this is all wrong - suppose you record ‘c jam blues’ for a cd and do a amazing 20 minute solo, the estate of Duke Ellington will get all the composition money despite the fact the major creative input has been yours.
Transcriptions of solos is a weird area I think, I mean the rights to the tune lie with the composer and in theory the rights of any solo should lie with the soloist but these are not really recognised as compositions so, unless already published, it is a bit vague who owns them. In jazz terms this is all wrong - suppose you record ‘c jam blues’ for a cd and do a amazing 20 minute solo, the estate of Duke Ellington will get all the composition money despite the fact the major creative input has been yours.
