If you are going to share materials, copy materials, and make use of others' materials in your work, you should have at least a familiarity with issues of copyright and plagiarism. Be sure you can define the terms as we begin our studies.
Our current legal code is playing “catch up” with the developments in technology. There are many gray areas in the law. Several issues, particularly with the distribution of music, are as of yet difficult to legally determine. For instance, there have been a number of legal suits concerning similarities between certain songs.i One author claims that another took portions for their own song. Other areas are confusing. For instance, any book or composition written before 1923 is now in the Public Domain. That means that it can be freely copied or even sold by someone other than the author or publisher. However, new editions of public domain works are covered by copyright law. The typesetting of the work and particularly any new wording or arrangements are considered a new creation and are covered by copyright law.
Musicians often are confused about copyrights. Most don't know that compositions are automatically covered by copyright law even if the copyright notice does not appear on the title page. Also the document does not have to be registered with the US copyright office to still be covered by copyright law.
You are allowed to make copies of copyrighted material you own for your own personal use. For example, copying a page of music to facilitate a page turn for a performance. Transferring recorded music from a CD to an iPhone is also legal as long as it is for your use only.
Ignorance of the laws, however, does not excuse a person from penalties. The fees for copyright violation are quite extreme: $100,000 per copy! You might think that Disney won’t come after you for that mp3 copy of the theme song to “Frozen” you sent to your little cousin. Perhaps not or maybe you will be the lucky person chosen to serve as an example for others. In past decades college students have forfeited bank accounts and personal possessions as penalties for copyright infringement.
Plagiarism is to a certain extent related to infringement of copyright. Both are examples of using another’s property (ideas, words, music, etc.) for one’s benefit. Be sure to acquaint yourself with the materials supplied for this course and acknowledge the rights of others. It is not worth putting your future at risk for a small gain.
As you progress in the course you will also learn about academic freedom to copy small segments of a work for use in a classroom or an academic paper (Fair Use). You will see examples of this in the course and also you will practice this in your papers in the course.
Soon in the course you will learn of exceptions to copyright: Public Domain and Creative Commons. Start a list of terms now with their definitions. This will help you to better understand the materials.
Dr. E.
Note
iSee David J. Moser, Moser on Music Copyright (Boston: Thomson, 2006), pp. 142-150.
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