Re: [Harp-L] copyright issues and permission

[Ken Deifik <kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I worked in the copyright department of one of the largest music publishers 
in the world in the 1970's, and have been doing copyright work in the last 
few years for several projects.

First, just to set the stage, by law if a song has already been recorded, 
and if it is still under copyright, the owner of that copyright is 
compelled by law to grant you a license to release another recording of 
that song.  However, you are compelled by law to request a license.

The pointer to the Harry Fox office is spot on.  You file your license 
request through them.  They are a clearing house for the publishers.  The 
publishers receive regular reports concerning who they have granted 
licenses to record to, etc.  You are required to give the owner of the 
copyright, usually the publisher, about ten cents per copy of the song 
sold.  That money used to be collected and distributed every quarter.  I 
don't know if it still works that way.

Back in the 70's, the Fox office did not charge you to file a license 
request.  Now they do.  The full price is $35 per song, or was last time I 
looked.  The good news is that if you expect that you'll be selling low 
numbers, they don't want to pry the full $35 from you.  There is a lower 
fee for small potatoes recording acts that mainly intend to sell a few 
hundred or thousand copies.

Through the years recordings have been released of copyrighted songs where 
the license was not requested.  Big, big trouble ensues.  One such record 
was Kansas City by Wilbert Harrison, a tremendous hit.  His record company 
did not request a license from Leiber & Stoller's company, and wound up 
losing most of their profit in court.

One of my best friends had an interesting job at Warner Bros records back 
in the 90's.  His whole job was to listen to every rap record that Warners 
released to make sure that all samples had been licensed.  Rappers were 
warned that it would cost them dearly if they didn't list and pay for all 
samples.  Many ignored this, and my friend, who really knows music, was 
able to catch many indiscretions before they were released.

On all too many occasions, however, the artist had to pay huge damages when 
copyrighted material was sampled and not licensed.  Copyright owners have 
their own people keeping an ear out for such things.

Don't let any of this scare you off.  Contact the Harry Fox office and 
learn what you have to learn to make your recordings legitimate.  I 
recommend copyrighting your own songs, even though the Copyright Office 
website is one of the worst websites I have ever encountered.  But you do 
not have to request licences for your own material, just for the material 
you release by others.