Is there a good way to let someone watch/listen to my arrangement without going through MuseScore.com?

• Dec 10, 2016 - 19:11

I did an arrangement of a copyrighted standard song and would like to let others listen to it. I guess it's not allowed to place such scores on MuseScore.com. Is there another way to share that with others? I know I can create a .wav file and email that, but it would be nice to allow them to watch the score scroll by as well.


Comments

By sharing the song IN ANY FORM with anyone else, you would be considered to have published it, and thus you would be in violation of the owner's copyright.

Before you do that, you need to get in touch with the copyright owner and request permission to publish your arrangement. Creating the arrangement in and of itself does not violate the owner's copyright; but publishing it does.

In reply to by Recorder485

What are the rules for putting a garage band's version of a classic and copyrighted tune on YouTube? I can't imagine that all those guys contact the copyright owner. And what about that band (or individual) performing that song at a club?

(Not planning that myself, by the way. Just curious about the rules.)

In reply to by Craig Wilson

The short version of the answers to your questions is: 'Consult an attorney specialising in Intellectual Property law.' I have a good knowledge of the aspects of IP law that apply to my business in my jurisdiction, but I am not an attorney and not licensed to advise anyone. Any advice I give you cannot be used as a defense against allegations of intent in a court, and you should not rely upon it other than in the most general way.

That said, there are a number of different kinds of rights inherent to a piece of intellectual property such as a song, and you should be aware of them. Here is a webpage (selected at random from the hits on page one of a G-search) which will give you a basic explanation of them and how they might affect what you want to do. http://akbllp.com/protecting-your-musical-copyrights/what-are-music-pub…

As for uploading a video of your band's performance of a copyrighted work, that constitutes publication of a performance and is outside the 'fair-use' exceptions in any jurisdiction I know about. Doing so without the owner's permission would almost certainly make you liable for damages. You are correct in thinking that 'all those guys' do not, indeed, contact the copyright owner for permission; however the fact they do not do so does not lessen your responsability to do so. A defense based upon 'Hey, everybody else does it!' is doomed to failure from the start.

In reply to by Craig Wilson

YouTube has a blanket agreement with a large number of music publishers, so that when someone uploads a cover version of a copyrighted song, YouTube automatically adds an ad to the video and sets it up so the proceeds go to the copyright holder, assuming it's someone they have an agreement with.

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