[Dixielandjazz] Some Of These Days

[Katie Cavera]

Wow - I'm so happy you brought this up Tom!  This is a
good question because I'm in the midst of trying to do
the same thing - secure mechanical licenses for a CD
I'm putting out.  And one of the songs I did was also
"Some Of These Days" so maybe we all can figure this
out together!  

First of all I have an original sheet which says:
"Some Of These Days" words and Music by Shelton Brooks
and inside it says:
Copyright, MCMX (1910), by Will Rossiter, Chicago,
Ill.

I also found this website about public domain songs:
http://www.pdinfo.com/
They say basically that: "Music and lyrics published
in 1922 or earlier are in the Public Domain in the
United States."  And: "The proof that a musical work
is in the public domain is a sheet music publication
with a copyright date of 1922 or earlier."   

And to double check this I went to the Lester S. Levy
online collection of sheet music:
 http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/
If you do a search for "Some Of These Days" it will
come right up and you can even print out your very own
copy.  In contrast, if you search for a song like
"Sonny Boy" by De Sylva, Brown, & Henderson - 1928 it
comes up with a notice that says : "Images are
restricted due to copyright and are unavailable for
viewing." 

Then I also found this site:
http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/public-domain/prove-status.html
Which says:
The following is a list of LEGITIMATE sources that
will prove a piece of music to be in the public
domain:

1. Original sheet music with the Public Domain
copyright date clearly displayed. (Which I have.)
...and...
4. A digital copy of the sheet music with the Public
Domain copyright date printed on the individual's
printer from a reliable website.
(Which you can get from the Levy website I mentioned
above.)

I understand that you can copyright an arrangement of
a song (i.e. "Benny Goodman's version of 'Some Of
These Days'").  And if you were going to play that
arrangement note for note you'd have to get a license
for that.  But since you are recording your own 'new'
version of what I believe is a public domain song, I
think you (and I) are in the clear.  Now if I'm wrong
about this someone please correct me because I'm
trying to do all of this by the book!  Good luck with
your CD and if anyone else on the list can shed some
light on this process then chime in!
- Katie Cavera    

http://www.katiecavera.net
http://www.youtube.com/kcavera