Double Bass legality question

[Sam Sherry]

Don't seek legal advice from random strangers.

Don't seek legal advice from random strangers on the interwebz.

Don't seek legal advice from random strangers on the interwebz who aren't lawyers.

Don't seek legal advice from random strangers on the interwebz who are bass players not lawyers.

Legal advice which is perfectly sound for one person, in their situation, at some particular time, is not necessarily sound for you, in your situation, at whatever time you seek to apply it.

That's the reason free legal advice is so costly.

OUT

 

[robobass]

Glad you're back Sam! This is a somewhat silly thread, but fun nonetheless. I heard from a fellow bass student (A DMA candidate no less, so it must be true) that Kalmus released tons of music in north America in which the copyright was held by European publishers. To skirt liability they simply made one change on every page, like omitting an accidental or changing a note somewhere, allowing them to claim that it was a new "edition", and leading to the term "Kalmus Mistake". In this case, if you copied the entire accompaniment into Finale and transposed it down a step, then every single note would be a different pitch. It seems hard then, for the publisher from whom you sourced the part to be able to claim infringement, and how would they know anyway?

Anyway, you can get it from Liben with piano parts in both keys for 20 bucks.

 

[J. Montgomery]

If the anticipated transposition would be for your own non-commercial, educational use then it may fall within fair use exemption.

IMHO, transpose the tune into any key you want and do yo' thang, don't distribute or try to sell things that aren't yours.

 

[robobass]

Wikipedia: Works in the public domain are those whose intellectual property rights have expired,[1] have been forfeited,[2] or are inapplicable. Examples include the works of Shakespeare and Beethoven, ... The term is not normally applied to situations where the creator of a work retains residual rights, in which case use of the work is referred to as "under license" or "with permission".

The publishers of public domain works own the "edition" they publish, but not the music itself.

 

[PaulCannon]

Oh wow, I forgot about the time I was a teenaged copyright lawyer. Thanks to whoever dug up this ten-year-old thread.