Copying Music

[ThomsonT]

I’ve had a lot af thought on this issue as well. Generally I still think unauthorized copying is a sin.
But then again…

Art, at its best, leads us to being a better person and through this to a better world. Talent and power to change the world better don’t originate from man only – it is derived from our Holy Father who gives it and takes it as seen right.
Man, made by the image of God is a limited creator – limited to what he is given or not by his Creator.
Created through divine leading, creation of man is not to be kept for only personal pleasure and profit. Such art belongs to all of Our Lords lambs to have a part in leading the way to the salvation.
From the pernicious moment when man ate from the tree of good and evil, he became aware of good and evil. Now, being capable of telling good from evil, we are bound to do so. Use this devine ability well – distinguish good from evil and “Seek good and not evil so you can live! Then the Lord, the God who commands armies, just might be with you, as you claim he is.” (Am 5, 14)

Ps!
Sorry if you see some goofy grammar mistakes or use of words, but I hope you get my point anyway.

 

[system]

I’ve had a lot af thought on this issue as well. Generally I still think unauthorized copying is a sin.
But then again…

Art, at its best, leads us to being a better person and through this to a better world. Talent and power to change the world better don’t originate from man only – it is derived from our Holy Father who gives it and takes it as seen right.
Man, made by the image of God is a limited creator – limited to what he is given or not by his Creator.
Created through divine leading, creation of man is not to be kept for only personal pleasure and profit. Such art belongs to all of Our Lords lambs to have a part in leading the way to the salvation.
From the pernicious moment when man ate from the tree of good and evil, he became aware of good and evil. Now, being capable of telling good from evil, we are bound to do so. Use this devine ability well – distinguish good from evil and “Seek good and not evil so you can live! Then the Lord, the God who commands armies, just might be with you, as you claim he is.” (Am 5, 14)

Ps!
Sorry if you see some goofy grammar mistakes or use of words, but I hope you get my point anyway.

I agree with much of what you said about art. But I would point to the scripture that says “the servant is worthy of his hire”.

It took centuries to come up with laws that protect the artist (although there’s still greedy companies) The bottom line is you want to have enough protection of the artist that you don’t have a James Taylor, or Paul Simon, or George Gershwin washing dishes to pay his bills, and coming up with 2 songs a year instead of 2 dozen.

 

[James_Carson]

In Canada, teachers for example are allowed to copy pages of books and hand them to students. It is fair use and it makes perfect sense.

quote]

O ya teachers here in the US can do that to, they do it all the time.

 

[JoeyWarren]

During the seventies, was there as much concern when we recorded off the radio station?

The idea was that once it went thru the public domain of the airwaves, if wanted to record it and play it, you could.

 

[agapewolf]

I can tell you there are some bad offenders of copyright laws, and the top of the list is churches and elementary schools.

Thats been stated twice now.

I am a music director for a Church…I try to follow all of the copyright laws…for moral and ethical reasons, but also, I know a lot of the composers personally and I am a composer.

HOWEVER…

Some of these Catholic publishers are RIDICULOUS, and not user friendly at all. I know several composers who have been extremely disappointed with their own publisher. Some publishers claim to be non-for-profit, and about the Catholic mission…however they strip the composer the right to minister their own music. Friends I have in town have started their own label because they want to give their music away. When publishers let money come in between the “consumer” and the Gospel, they will be accountable to God. I have written a few music settings for psalms…(not published). I would want Churches to burn the copies so that their choirs can learn them. I would want them to copy the sheet music so that the choir can sing it. I can sympathize with composers who have this as their main means for a living. Multiple copies mean food for their family. For me though, its pure ministry.

Again, I try to follow all of the rules. But sometimes I circumvent the publisher and go directly to the composer…I ask them…can I burn 4copies of this song for my choir to learn and practice it to sing at church, so then we print the words (which I have a license for), and then you get paid. Otherwise, the choir does a stinky job…thats not good for the composer. This is where the morality of this particular situation is skewed.

 

[Semper_Fi_1]

Unfortunately, YES.

This has been the absolute hardest of all the commandments for me to keep since my conversion.

You’d think fornication would be the hardest. Nope.

I used to be such a music buff, pirated records from all over the world, everything from 60s hippie tunes, 70s metal, reggae, 80s music, goths, new romantics, alternative, country, you name it.

I love music and ugh, I tell you, this is surely the hardest thing for me to keep.

But yes, it’s stealing, don’t do it. I’ve had different priests tell me this. I wish it were’nt but it is.

This is US-centric advice, of course. Canadians (ARGH!) can download to their heart’s content because “piracy” isn’t illegal there.

 

[system]

Thats been stated twice now.

It can’t be overstated

I am a music director for a Church…I try to follow all of the copyright laws…for moral and ethical reasons, but also, I know a lot of the composers personally and I am a composer.

HOWEVER…

Some of these Catholic publishers are RIDICULOUS, and not user friendly at all.

I agree. There are certain Catholic publishers that distributors just plain stopped doing business with many years ago.

I know several composers who have been extremely disappointed with their own publisher. Some publishers claim to be non-for-profit, and about the Catholic mission…however they strip the composer the right to minister their own music.

Sounds like one of the pubs I just mentioned.

Friends I have in town have started their own label because they want to give their music away.

That is a good thing. It’s a difficult thing, but sends a strong message to the publishers.

When publishers let money come in between the “consumer” and the Gospel, they will be accountable to God. I have written a few music settings for psalms…(not published). I would want Churches to burn the copies so that their choirs can learn them. I would want them to copy the sheet music so that the choir can sing it. I can sympathize with composers who have this as their main means for a living. Multiple copies mean food for their family. For me though, its pure ministry.

again, another good reason to be self-published or published through your friends’ independent publishing house.

Again, I try to follow all of the rules. But sometimes I circumvent the publisher and go directly to the composer…I ask them…can I burn 4copies of this song for my choir to learn and practice it to sing at church, so then we print the words (which I have a license for), and then you get paid. Otherwise, the choir does a stinky job…thats not good for the composer. This is where the morality of this particular situation is skewed.

It is commendable that you’ve tried to follow the rules, but some pubs, are definitely unreasonable. I just broke some rules myself on getting a friend in London to get me some great arrangements that cannot be sold in North America due to arcane copyright laws. I could buy inferior arrangements here, or get the good ones as contraband!

But there are still valid reasons to try to protect the artist. My daughter just had a school project where they invented things, and in the end, each was awarded with a “patent” from the teacher. Then I realized, yeah, copyright is a form of patent, and nobody questions the rights of the patent holder to be paid, but in music, they do. With the likely result being a talented songwriter/artist does not make enough to support himself in music and must leave the work God called him to do to take on something else to pay the bills. This has been happening since day one.

I’m not sure where it’s all heading, but I suppose whatever changes occur in the music recording world, will lead the way to changes in the sheet music world.

 

[Fuerza]

Related to this topic, I’m big into foreign languages. Because self study programs can be expensive, I have in the past borrowed them from the library and copied the CDs (since I knew that I would never be able to finish them before having to return them, even with renewals). I do not plan to sell them or give them away, and will probably destroy or throw them away when I’m done. Is this wrong?

 

[Semper_Fi_1]

Related to this topic, I’m big into foreign languages. Because self study programs can be expensive, I have in the past borrowed them from the library and copied the CDs (since I knew that I would never be able to finish them before having to return them, even with renewals). I do not plan to sell them or give them away, and will probably destroy or throw them away when I’m done. Is this wrong?

Yes, this is against the law. Similarly, copying a book if you cannot finish it is also against the law.

 

[FTS]

PeteZaHut,

I totally understand your situation. I was wondering the same thing about a month ago. I had a large amount of burned CD’s that friends had made for me. I also had burned CD mixes that I made, and then sold the original CDs to a music store. I’ve also burned CD’s for friends of mine. I never thought much about this being wrong before, but about a month ago I really began to ponder it. I realized that it is wrong and clearly a form of stealing. Whether you are downloading music and burning CD’s without paying for it, someone else does it for you, or you are doing so for a friend, it is all immoral and a form of stealing. I decided to throw out all of my burned cd’s, and I felt great about it. I bet you will too if you do the same. God Bless!

 

[Sarabande]

Our organist/music director at our Cathedral makes sure to purchase all music for the music program. But as agapewolf says, the area become gray when you are actually dealing with the composer who is still alive and that you are in contact with. For sacred compositions that are older (such as masses by Palestrina) there are sites which you can download and print out for free and is legal. You cannot do that for the more modern works, understandably.

In terms of auditions or attending music conservatories (at least for classically-trained singers), many times you are requested to have paper photocopies of the music, especially if you will be performing a piece of music that are pages long. It’s easier for the accompanist to read. I usually bring my books with me anyway. Although, I have been asked before to bring a photocopy of music for when I made an audition recording. They needed it for when they did the editing. The studio was not willing to buy a book of music that has only one or two of the arias I was to record - understandably. The music gets trashed after the recording is made.

Many voice students have a mix of published music and copies. I admittedly have both, but I love owning books of music (weird, I know), so I’m slowly building a library of purchased sheet music. When I was a student, though, I couldn’t afford the sheet music and would use the library scores to copy. It’s still really expensive, but I prefer to buy the music more so to help out the sheet music stores near me. I know that the internet is driving a lot of these places out of business.

 

[JoshR]

Priest told me if its copyrighted then its stealing