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I have a question about arranging. I have downloaded various midi files
from the internet and re-arranged, transcribed, rewrote them for our
brass quintet to play. I am wondering how much has to be changed
before I can claim the arrangement as my own. Is a transcription considered to be writing out parts note for note? For example, I
downloaded a midi file of "The Gift of Love" already arranged for BQ.
I changed the intro, simplified some lines, changed some voicing and
changed the ending. While it is a different piece now, someone
familiar with the original could identify some common elements. Is it
considered plagiarism only if the original was copyrighted? When dealing with a work in public domain does it make any difference if I work from The original or another transcription (as long as the transcription is not copyrighted)? I can’t see a way of avoiding copying some musical ideas. I intend to put some stuff on Sibelius.com and want to clear it up in my mind before I do so.

What you are describing would generally be considered arranging. There is a large "gray-area" between what is considered a transcription and an arrangement. There are usually elements of both in each. An adaptation is another derivative work which falls under similar lines. Alfred Blatter in his book, "Instrumentation and Orchestration" gives one of the best descriptions of each, and outlines compositional guidelines/recomendations for employing each one. I suggest you read it. It's a wonderful book for many different applications.

As far as copyright goes, you need to get a book called "Copyright: The Complete Guide for Music Educators" by Jay Althouse. It will give you eveything you need to know on the subject, particularly along the lines of what is permissible and what needs permission from the copyright holder. I just bought my second copy and in the process found out that it was now out-of-print. So I ended up buying it through half.com. It's worth spending the time to track a copy down.

The bottom line as far as your issue here is: you cannot make a derivative work (transcription, arrangement, adaptation, etc.) of a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright holder (which is often times the publisher of the work). Period. It doesn't matter what the arrangement is used for (i.e. church, schools, admission-free performances, etc.). Performance rights are an entirely separate issue. If the tunes that you are arranging are under copyright, and you don't have permission specifically from the copyright holder, then you are infringing on the rights of the copyright holder.

There is a lot of misinformation out there on this subject, which is the reason I decided to chime in on this. I was told by the marching band arranger for a major Pac-10 school (fight on!!!) that he did not need to get permission for his arrangements because he was employed by a school. I didn't know it at the time, but he is absolutely wrong. There is a case that performance of a copyrighted work in a situation covered by the fair-use clause does not need permission, but my understanding is that fair-use does not cover the creation of derivative works.

I've done my share of illegal arrangements. I do not sell them, and perhaps that's my pathetic way of justifying their existence. There are several marching band arrangers out there that have been sued by major publishers of pop tunes and been fined more than $40,000 for copyright violations. Be careful! Just don't fool yourself into thinking that you have the right to write an arrangement of anything you want. I'm getting better about it, particularly as my writing gets into higher profile performances. Some organizations require proof of permission from copyright holders, which I'm dealing with right now.

Good luck!
Scott

Just a thought:

The music that is already composed is already composed...

The music that you dont "invent" noone will and will not exist.

What if you compose something new?

Arranging and transcribing or even copying is good. we learn much that way.

But you can compose too. The copyright problems are much softer that way... Creating music gives us (and possibly others) a great satisfaction.

Good Luck

Antero

scouterbill wrote:Is it considered plagiarism only if the original was copyrighted? When dealing with a work in public domain does it make any difference if I work from The original or another transcription (as long as the transcription is not copyrighted)? I can’t see a way of avoiding copying some musical ideas.

Be carefull here.

Plagiarism is completely seperate from copyright. So you can plagiarize something without copyright infringement.

More important, just about anything written or published in the last century is copyright protected (thanks to the Mickey Mouse Protection Act). Everything is automatically protected when written, no notice is required. Neither is registration.

If the original work is PD, and you start with an arrangement, it still likely to be protected. The arangement protection entirely seperate form the original. So you can take Bach's score and create arangements all you want, but if you get an arrangemet for band from a warmup book, you are in for trouble.

You best bet is to talk to a lawyer that deals with composers. They can explain the legal technicalities and advise you on your planned endevors. The more details you have about the plan, the better their advice. Of course, what they say is just advice, and another lawyer could dissagree, as could a judge and jury. Look at the IBM-SCO case for example.

Thomas "wishing we would return to the copyright law from 1850"

ThomasDodd wrote: So you can take Bach's score and create arangements all you want, but if you get an arrangemet for band from a warmup book, you are in for trouble.

Sounds like a huge grey area to me. While Bach may be public domain, the G. Schirmer transcriptions are more than likely protected. Here is an example of what I'm doing.
I saw David Taylors arrangement of The Great Gates of Kiev from his website. I have a copy of the original work for piano. I liked Davids work and thought it would make a terrific recessional for a wedding, but it was long and I wanted to use just the brass. I have re-worked it and made it much shorter (3 minutes). While I worked from the piano score I was definitly influenced by the earlier arrangement. It's hard to avoid scoring block chords in similar ways.

More important, just about anything written or published in the last century is copyright protected (thanks to the Mickey Mouse Protection Act). Everything is automatically protected when written, no notice is required. Neither is registration.

I've put an arrangement on Sibelius.com and at the botttom of the page it says I hold the copyright. Does this mean that it is protected even though I haven't done anythig else?

scouterbill wrote:I've put an arrangement on Sibelius.com and at the botttom of the page it says I hold the copyright. Does this mean that it is protected even though I haven't done anythig else?

Even though the copyright notice is nice, it's unnecessary according to the law. IOW, it's harder to publish something in the public domain than as a copyrighted work. Such is the strange world we live in.

A middle course is to claim copyright while giving permission to freely distribute and perform your work. Which still protects your rights to derivative works and outright theft (someone selling your work as their own).

Chuck(G) wrote:A middle course is to claim copyright while giving permission to freely distribute and perform your work. Which still protects your rights to derivative works and outright theft (someone selling your work as their own).

The GNU General Public License

Or maybe the GNU Free Documentation License would be better.

scouterbill wrote:

ThomasDodd wrote: So you can take Bach's score and create arangements all you want, but if you get an arrangemet for band from a warmup book, you are in for trouble.

Sounds like a huge grey area to me. While Bach may be public domain, the G. Schirmer transcriptions are more than likely protected.

It is a very dark grey, ask any laywer.

And I said Bach's score, not somone's transcription.
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