Do i need to get "copyright permission" if i sell a CD of me playing several jazz standards and improvising?

Question

i would not be dong the exact versions, but rather using my own voicings and improvising on the melody. i would be doing standards by miles, coltrane, evans, etc. and i would be playing them on solo piano. Is this against copyright laws?

Answer 1

technically, yes.

but don't sweat it. the RIAAA will only come gunning for you if you make it big. if it stays small-scale you're fine.

some tunes may be public domain but most are copyrighted, i would think.


even using a second of an established standard/melody does violate this. i know this for fact. there is a segment in a rock documentary called "rising low" where gov't mule bassist allen woody (r.i.p.) riffs 3 seconds of a beatles tune backstage, and lawyers tried to get compensation. but the beatles are hardliners when it comes to that.


if it were me, i'd do it w/out worrying in all seriousness.

Answer 2

If you make and sell CDs, you are a record label! Thus the RIAA will not go after you because they only protect their own recordings, in fact, you could join them if you wanted.

It is also your responsibility to clear composition rights. In the United States you do not need permission from the composer if the work has been recorded at least once, which i gather is the case here. You do have to pay royalty, by one of 3 methods. 1, get with the composer and strike a deal directly, this works for jazz stuff where there is a lot of collegiative sharing. 2. sign up for mechanical rights at Harry Fox Agency, they represent many, but not all composers with pre-arranged contracts, or 3. pay mechanical rights to the composers behalf at the Library of Congress, using the statutory royalty fee.

If you feel your work is original or is a truly significant creative adaptation of a standard, then you are the composer! To get copyright protection for yourself, you need to be able to write it out as music tabulature. Just putting down "improvise" doesn't work, it has to be in a fixed form. Also congress removed the provision allowing the recording itself to be the evidence of publication, so it MUST be written out.

Answer 3

If someone else composed (and thus owns) the songs you are playing, then you would either need permission or you would need to pay a performance royalty.

A performance royalty is a special provision of the copyright code that applies to certain musical performances. The amount of the royalty is fixed by statute, rather than being negotiated directly through a license.

This doesn't apply if you composed the original music and lyrics, or if you are creating variants of classical music where the original composes have been dead for over a century.

Answer 4

It is against the law if you get caught and the record company sues you.

Answer 5

no, its your stuff