Copyright of printed sheet music

'Is it legal', 'can I do this' type questions and discussions.
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FrancesQ
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Copyright of printed sheet music

Post by FrancesQ »

I understand that when a composer has been dead for 70 years their sheet music is out of copyright and it can be copied. There are many online sites where you can pick up such copies provided free by kindly notators. However can you tell me please what the situation is for the official publisher? Does that also come out of copyright if say the piece an out-of-copyright been published within the past few years, can this be copied or is there an additional copyright on that. The dates of such publications can be difficult to establish. And how long would such a copyright last.
Many thanks
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AndyJ
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Re: Copyright of printed sheet music

Post by AndyJ »

There are two separate issues here.

The music of a composer who died more than seventy years ago will now be in the public domain. This includes the notation of the music as it is this phyisical embodiment of the music which creates the copyright. A melody which has never been recorded in any manner, for instance on tape, as an MP3, manually notated or in sheet music, cannot enjoy copyright until such time as it is so recorded - see section 3(2) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. Additionally, see note 1 below.

There can also be a separate copyright in the typographical edition of the published sheet music. This lasts for 25 years from the date of first publication, and only applies to the first edition of that particular sheet music. A second or subsequent edition of the same typographical layout does not extend or renew this copyright. However a new arrangement or a substantially altered score might create the circumstances in which a new publisher's copyright comes into being and this would have its own 25 year term. I suggest that you should not take a publisher's copyright notice at face value. Check the provenance of the score and if it is identical to an older score, possibly one published in the composer's lifetime, then it is likely to be a false claim to copyright. Unfortunately there is little to stop an otherwise legitimate company from plastering such notices on their sheet music even where they know perfectly well that the music itself is no longer in copyright.

Note.
1. There is a special provision in section 61 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 for the archival recording of folksongs for which the words and music have never been formally published.
Advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of Legal Services Act 2007
FrancesQ
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Re: Copyright of printed sheet music

Post by FrancesQ »

Thank you so much that is very useful.
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