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Original Post By:
ROSS M HART
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Date: 7/25/2018 2:01:54 PM |
| We have a member of our Ukulele Club that is a card carrying professional ukulele player. He says that the songs in The Daily Ukulele are copyrighted and the authors should be compensated. He refuses to play the songs from the Daily Ukulele song books. Is he right? What are the rules in regards to copyrights and who can use the music? Are these song books OK to use. |
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Posted By:
Jim Beloff
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Date: 7/25/2018 3:51:01 PM |
| Ross, Hi. Email me at jim@fleamarketmusic.com and I'll try to give you some guidance, best, Jim Beloff
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Posted By:
J Boy Shyne
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Date: 7/27/2018 7:32:43 AM |
There are a zillion song/fake books. The book mentioned is one of many. All published music is entitled to copyright protection.
In the US, musical works originally published before 1922 are in the public domain. Thus, any songs in the book mentioned that were published before 1922 can be performed without violating anyone's copyright.
To perform or record a copyrighted song, one needs a license. Generally, the venue is responsible for obtaining the performance license, while the artist is responsible for obtaining the license when it comes to recordings.
For more info, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_licensing
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Posted By:
Ukulele Rob
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Date: 7/30/2018 11:37:58 PM
(Updated: 7/30/2018 11:40:49 PM)
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| Ross: I'd be curious to see Jim's direct response, particularly as the question you pose is a bit confusing. Starting with: A "card carrying professional ukulele player." Is this member of your club a member of the Musician's Union Local? Next, in what context is he refusing to play the tunes in the Daily Ukulele? E.g., as Jim and Liz have printed the copyright credits to each tune (including their own compositions, copyrighted by their own publishing company), I assume that their publishing company has paid the normal royalties to publish all of these tunes in a book. So the authors (or their heirs or assignees) have already been paid. And, of course, if he's talking about Jim and Liz, they get paid every time someone buys a copy of the book. If we're talking about folks playing along to the book at a ukulele club meeting, that's a private use. If the club has a ukulele band that performs songs from the book at a commercial venue (bar, restaurant, etc.), that may be a different story. No problem if the venue pays the various licensing agencies, but from time to time you'll find a venue with a "no covers" policy, which means that performers may only perform songs that they themselves have written, because the venue owner has decided not to pay for licensing. And of course, if your ukulele club has a performing group that records a CD of songs from the Daily Ukulele for commercial sale, you'll need to secure the rights to each song from its publisher. And of course there are all of the complicated exemptions, including educational or teaching use in many situations. I guess the bottom line is "OK to use" for what? If you're talking about just using The Daily Ukulele (or any other songbook, whether from a current artist like Victoria Vox, or one of Ukulele Ike's great "Collection for the Ukulele" series from the late 1940s) just to sit around and strum and sing together at ukulele club gatherings, I don't see any problem. But if your club is thinking about creating some sort of theater concert or performance from these songbooks, advertising it, and charging admission to the general public, well, it's never too early to start chasing down permission from the various rights holders. Especially if you're planning to use any Irving Berlin songs. (The Irving Berlin group is particularly zealous in protecting the Berlin heirs' income. A local amateur chorus here that does a big annual holiday show to raise money for its activities has never been able to negotiate a fee with the Berlin live performance agency, R&H Theatricals of NYC, that wouldn't blow its budget, so it's never sung "White Christmas." But I've sung it plenty of times in bars and restaurants that have paid their annual venue license fees, and as far as I know the late Mr. Berlin is quite happy with the situation.)
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