Submitted by Debbie (not verified) on April 2, 2008 - 04:57.
Chris, I had never thought of this before but as a former music teacher turned geek, you are right in saying that there are stringent copyright rules on recording performances by anyone. This includes musicals performed by your school's drama department as well. You are allowed one archival copy of anything but above that you cannot produce, sell, and I would think you would include post on uTube anything you perform that is copyrighted. We used to have our concerts recorded professionally and were required to pay fees to ASCAP for every video that was sold. Purchasing enough copies of the music for each student in your classroom only gives you the right to perform it- not videotape it. That would mean that all parents videotaping their students would be in violation of copyright law. I'm sure that is much more commonplace than what we did- paying the ascap fees.
The basic rule of thumb is- "If it takes money out of the composer/musician/writers pocket, don't do it- it's not legal." This includes purchasing the music and making copies so your music won't get lost, messed up, etc. Music is considered in the same way as greeting cards-expendable. If you purchase 30 copies of an octavo and 6 of them get trashed by your kids, the only way to replace those copies is to buy 6 more. By photocopying, it goes back to the rule above- you're keeping money out of the composer's pocket for those 6 copies. Interestingly enough, composers/musicians get very little of the $2+ dollars from an octavo sale- usually about 15-25%. Most of the rest goes to the distributors, printers, production company, ad agencies, etc.
Our county has just loosened their Internet policy and it concerns many of us who are trying to promote Internet safety. We do have forms that each child/parent signs at the beginning of the year allowing their picture to be used in print, on TC, online, etc. Those who do not sign the form, can't be used. That gets a little dicey at times. Prior to this year, students entire name could not be used- only their first name. As of this school year, a student's full name can be used in any of those venues. Parents complained loudly that their sports stars, academic stars, arts stars, etc should get full credit for their achievements so now you can use their entire name. Distressing
I am interested into looking into this issue further because you're right- I'm sure there are thousands if not millions of videos online that are illegal. Be sure you send us anything you find about the topic. Thanks for including me on the email.
Copyright and posting
Submitted by Debbie (not verified) on April 2, 2008 - 04:57.
Chris, I had never thought of this before but as a former music teacher turned geek, you are right in saying that there are stringent copyright rules on recording performances by anyone. This includes musicals performed by your school's drama department as well. You are allowed one archival copy of anything but above that you cannot produce, sell, and I would think you would include post on uTube anything you perform that is copyrighted. We used to have our concerts recorded professionally and were required to pay fees to ASCAP for every video that was sold. Purchasing enough copies of the music for each student in your classroom only gives you the right to perform it- not videotape it. That would mean that all parents videotaping their students would be in violation of copyright law. I'm sure that is much more commonplace than what we did- paying the ascap fees.
The basic rule of thumb is- "If it takes money out of the composer/musician/writers pocket, don't do it- it's not legal." This includes purchasing the music and making copies so your music won't get lost, messed up, etc. Music is considered in the same way as greeting cards-expendable. If you purchase 30 copies of an octavo and 6 of them get trashed by your kids, the only way to replace those copies is to buy 6 more. By photocopying, it goes back to the rule above- you're keeping money out of the composer's pocket for those 6 copies. Interestingly enough, composers/musicians get very little of the $2+ dollars from an octavo sale- usually about 15-25%. Most of the rest goes to the distributors, printers, production company, ad agencies, etc.
Our county has just loosened their Internet policy and it concerns many of us who are trying to promote Internet safety. We do have forms that each child/parent signs at the beginning of the year allowing their picture to be used in print, on TC, online, etc. Those who do not sign the form, can't be used. That gets a little dicey at times. Prior to this year, students entire name could not be used- only their first name. As of this school year, a student's full name can be used in any of those venues. Parents complained loudly that their sports stars, academic stars, arts stars, etc should get full credit for their achievements so now you can use their entire name. Distressing
I am interested into looking into this issue further because you're right- I'm sure there are thousands if not millions of videos online that are illegal. Be sure you send us anything you find about the topic. Thanks for including me on the email.