ronll^m wrote:What about She Moves Thro' The Fair-don't know if there are words- , and of course Amazing Grace ?
folkdeejay » 04 Sep 2012, 01:12
I think the venue you play at is probably being unrealistic, or maybe just lazy - my understanding is that (in the UK anyway) PRS is due even if a band plays wholly original material - you are meant to keep set list records for each gig, you should register with the relevant body, and all venues that have a licence to put on live music are meant to be part of the scheme... there are very few exceptions, and these tend to be schools/village halls etc ...a bar/pub style venue with alcohol on sale and (probably) tickets on slae to some/all gigs should be part of the scheme.... because which band will not throw in one or two covers unless they are playing 100% original stuff to a fan-base ( in which case, they will likely be "on the circuit" and so already "in the system").
Are you talking copyright infringement or plagiarism? Or is this something else, some type of fee structure that is unrelated to authorship, that is unique to Britain or Europe? Because if this is about copyright infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property rights, there are reasonable measures one can take to avoid infringing on another's property rights while still allowing an artist to express their own creativity.
Amazing Grace is most definitely in the public domain.
She Moves Through the Fair is another traditional folk song that is likely much more than 100 years old. Any creative variation on those would not be an infringement as far as the original melody or words- they're folk songs, passed down through the ages. That is how it's always been.
This quote seems relevant. While perusing the topic on the internet, I saw this line cited from case law: "Others are free to copy the original. They are not free to copy the copy,"
Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co., 188 U.S. 239, 249 (1903).
There are numerous case law examples of copyright infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property rights. Two of the more famous cases are the myriad legal mess that involved George Harrison's
My Sweet Lord and the The Chiffon's recording
He's So Fine-
Bright Tunes Music Corp. v. Harrisongs Music, Ltd. et al, 420 F. Supp 177 (1976); ABKCO Music, Inc. v. Harrisongs Music, et al, 508 F. Supp. 798 (1981);944 F.2d 971 (1991).
Or the lawsuit the Isley Brothers brought against Michael Bolton-
Three Boys Music v. Michael Bolton 212 F.3d 477 (9th Cir.2000).
A friend of mine got to sit on the jury for the Isley Brothers/Michael Bolton case when it was originally litigated in Los Angeles. Of course when she was first Impannelled on the jury she couldn't discuss any of it but as soon as the trial ended she called and told me all about it- and we both found it hilarious that Michael Bolton actually claimed that he'd never heard of the Isley Brothers. He expected people to buy that excuse.
Anyway, If you copy those case laws and paste them into google search it will direct you to a wealth of information on that topic- other more recent cases and of course very timely and relevant law review articles, and the law is quite fluid- it is in a constant state of flux, but there is plenty of allowance for creativity especially if you are using the original source as inspiration, and not someone else's interpretation. "Others are free to copy the original (in the public domain). They are not free to copy the copy."
http://www.culturalequity.org/ this is a link to source material for much of the folk music that was an inspiration to Rory and others. It's all in the public domain, it's all free.