[Dixielandjazz] CD Royalties?

[Bigbuttbnd@aol.com]

Dave, I'm no legal expert. Here's what I THINK is the issue, however.

When I was playing in an Atlanta amusement park back in my early 20's 
(mid-1970's) our park was in a legal battle with ASCAP and refused to pay a 
royalty increase (I believe Disney was at the forefront of this protest, at 
the time). Our supervisors told us we could play any song written before 
1917, anything protected by BMI or SESAC, but absolutely no ASCAP songs. This 
forced us to do a LOT of research to see what could be played and what could 
not. The main point was that 1975 was 52 years later (than 1917) and the U.S. 
Copyright at the time was only good for 26 years plus a one-time 26 year 
renewal. So any song written before 1917 or 1918, wvwn with a renewal,  had 
"fallen off the time scale" and was no longer protected. I also read that the 
famous director Frank Capra neglected to renew his copyright on the movie 
"It's A Wonderful Life" after 26 years and it fell into the public domain 
unprotected. It was then shown endlessly by every late-movie local TV station 
without having to pay a royalty and gained massive popularity as a public 
domain feature! 

Soon after, the Congress rewrote our copyright law to something like "a work 
is protected until 50 years after the death of the author". I remember that 
this happened just before the death of Irving Berlin, who lived to be over 
100 years old. Many jokes were made at the time that Irving got an extra 50 
years by outliving the copyright legislation! (Irving seemed to be known for 
his micromanagement when it came to granting permission for the use of his 
songs. There is even a famous story that he denied Steven Speilberg the 
permission to use "Always" in a movie he was producing!)

I have heard (on this list) that the agent who grants these mechanical 
licenses (Harry Fox Agency, I believe) can represent someone who holds a 
copyright on a recording or arrangement of a song that has fallen into the 
public domain. This makes it APPER that the song might still need a license 
because the copyrighted recording or arrangement was done at a later time and 
is still within protection while the song itself is actually in the public 
domain. Maybe someone on the list can shed more light. The point is that Fox 
may often collect licensing fees on songs that actually do not require it.

Be careful..
Rocky Ball
Atlanta