[Dixielandjazz] one more teeny tiny point about licensing...

[Edgerton, Paul A]

There are three types of music licensing:

First there's the license covering public performance of copyrighted works.
This is typically the responsibility of the venue and is normally covered by
an annual blanket license fee. Musicians can ordinarily ignore this issue.

Then there's the mechanical license covering distribution of a copyrighted
work in what is called a phonorecord. This is what has been under discussion
here. It's supposed to be negotiable, but the upper limit is defined by the
8.5 cents per song per copy sold mandated by the so-called compulsory
license. This means only that the publisher can't refuse your request to
record a particular song, but it doesn't give you the right to make your own
arrangement of a song. Most of this royalty goes to the publisher anyway,
depending on the songwriter's contract with the publisher.

Finally there are publishing royalties, covering the right to use a song --
to make a "derivative work" -- and the right to sell copies (i.e.. sheet
music). This is negotiable between the various parties, with the royalty
normally split between the author(s) and the publisher. The publisher is
very often the record company itself. This is the part of the deal that jazz
guys try to beat by writing a line over some standard changes, and is part
of what put BMI on the map (well that and the recording ban) since so many
of these new "publishers" could get into BMI for a little cash at a time
when ASCAP wouldn't even talk to them.

None of this answers the question of which songs are copyrighted and which
are in the public domain. That has to be researched on a song-by-song basis.
The ever-helpful Harry Fox Agency (an arm of the music publishing
establishment) will be more than happy to give you their answer. If you
opinion differs and there is significant money involved you will probably be
invited to make your arguments in a courtroom. The common artist-produced
OKOM CD generates so little revenue that it normally doesn't warrant much
attention. But then, "One never knows, do one?"