Recording - an adventure in copyright

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So I ventured off to a local helpful music store to purchase the Flute AMEB Grade 1 (Series One) book, published by Allans Publishing. I got to thinking about whether my proposed recording might hold any commercial prospects, perhaps I could sell it to students like my child. Her flute teacher wasn’t aware of any existing recordings along these lines. In any case, I figured that most of the works were classical and traditional – meaning that for the most part they would be free of copyright, and could be recorded without any additional fees applying.

I checked out Google and found a couple of sites which offered recordings of the flute syllabus, including the AMEB themselves, who distribute through Allans Publishing. Another site was www.musicalia.com.au. I wondered why the CDs weren’t simply included in the flute book itself – one would have thought that this would be a useful “value-added” extension of a sheet music product for flute. One of the websites mentioned an AMCOS/APRA licence. So I emailed Sean Price at APRA, who helpfully stated: “if you are making a recording of AMCOS controlled works, you will need to pay the composers through an Audio Manufacture Licence. The royalty will be calculated at a rate of 6.578 percent of RRP ex GST”. Sean helpfully attached a copy of the application, and offered to field any queries. The service from APRA was first rate – fast and definitive.

Further research and reading of the APRA/AMCOS application form suggested that early works by the composers of the flute syllabus (being in the 18th century) would probably not be “controlled” and thus not “licensable” - these could be recorded without royalty owing to the age of the works and the cosequent expiry of any copyright. If four of the eight works in the AMEB list did not incur a fee, then the rate to be paid would be half, as it is based on the proportion of licenced works in the total recorded playlist.

So far so good. A quick call to the Musician’s Union verified that the AMCOS fee was reasonable.

Next, I figured that I should contact Allans Publishing to see if there were any other considerations in this recording project. Allans Publishing have a very nice recorded phone message and I was put through to Catherine Gerrard’s message bank. I emailed her via the only email address on the Allans website to explain my possible recording project and ask about costs. I also left a message on her phone answering machine. Two days passed, and I thought I may have misspelled her name. After further investigation online, I discovered that Ms. Gerrard is in fact a director of AMCOS. This time I called and spoke to her directly. We discussed the project, and she indicated that apart from the AMCOS royalties there were in fact royalties due to AMEB for the intellectual property in the syllabus list and also for the intellectual property in the arrangements. But she couldn’t indicate a scale of fees over the phone and suggested I put my query to her in writing, together with a description of the project. She also indicated that she is the agent for collection of fees on behalf of the AMEB in this regard.

I was lucky I had found the Allans Publishing contact and the AMEB contact and the AMCOS contact all in the very same person. At least the advice should be non-conflicting and identical across all organisations.

AMEB would thus command a fee for my recording a collection of classical works, because the list of recorded works matches the list in their syllabus. They also impose a fee for using their accompaniment arrangements. There is also (in some cases) a fee to the composer via AMCOS, especially for living composers.

I still hadn’t heard back from Ms. Gerrard after a week had elapsed from the time of my initial contact.

To digress, one of the companies providing a similar recording to the AMEB recording is musicalia.com.au, whose recording artists include AMEB examiners. And Ms. Gerrard knew nothing of the musicalia.com.au site – nor (based on her recollection) had Allans Publishing ever licensed them for their recording. Of course, being AMEB examiners they would be certain of the legality of their AMEB syllabus-based product.

So, if the licencing fees are reasonable, I will proceed to pay them to Allans Publishing and AMCOS and record the backings. But what if the fees aren’t ordinate? What if they are designed to keep me out of the marketplace, or protect the AMEB’s or Allans Publishing products from competition? What if the fees reduce the economic feasibility of my project so as to prevent it? Well, one option would be to put the tracks on itunes.com “individually” - thereby not incurring a royalty for the “list” of works as a recorded multi-track CD. There is an agency at www.tunecore.com, which offers to upload tunes to itunes.com for independent musicans. Another option is to record my own original arrangements of the accompaniments for AMEB works, thereby obviating the musical arrangement costs for the specific AMEB accompaniments. Another possibility is that I simply won’t get permission at all.

In any case, the project will involve an intellectual property lawyer to verify that I have no other obligations by law and that the agreements with AMEB and Allans Publishing and AMCOS are replete and watertight.

I should have listened to the lyrical wisdom of 1960’s comedian Benny Hill: “Life is full of misery, and life is full of woe, and life is very hard for the girl that plays the piccolo”. And for her accompanist, I suspect.

In conclusion, I would advocate the harmonica as a fine, fine instrument for a young person.

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Brain theft

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Dear Uncle Terry,

If someone has used ideas of mine and is benefiting from them what can I do to make a claim on my ideas? How can I prove that what they are singing in a song is based on an idea that I had? I feel like an ego-maniac, but it's happened several times now. This person is stealing intellectual property and they won't acknowledge my part in it! It really shits me when people go up to him after a gig and congratulate him on his “insightful lyrics” that were really MY IDEAS! He's getting laid trading with my mind. He's an impostor! And what makes it even worse is he is really dumb. He is corrupting my ideas!

Up Tight.

Dear Up,

Uncle Terry is not an intellectual property lawyer so what follows does not constitute formal legal advice. The basis principal you need to understand is that you cannot copyright an idea. Copyright only protects the way an idea is expressed e.g. as a song, a novel etc. Uncle Terry suggests that you also need to understand that your personal concept of "justice" and what Australian law provides may not be the same thing. Here are some references that may assist:

For general copyright information:

http://www.copyright.org.au/
information/G010.pdf

For intellectual property and ideas:

http://www.copyright.org.au/
information/G015.pdf

Uncle Terry

The Wedding Singer

Hi Uncle Terry,

I play in a pretty versatile cover band. We are a five-piece, and sometimes the keyboard player and me (on guitar) do a few low-key gigs as a duo. The band want to crack into the wedding market (and crack onto the bridesmaids – ha ha, just kidding). We've put ads up and are considering the yellow pages, but that's a year away.It's been pretty slow.

One lady asked if we could do Every Breath You Take and we didn't then. Of all the songs. I was about to say we'd learn it, but she'd already hung up. I think she was crying. We do it now, of course. Someone else got skeptical when we didn't do I Will Always Love You and we lost out to a ska band who did it. We do that now too.

Do you have any other wedding song tips? Is it worth learning a few Jewish numbers to capitalise on that market? What strategies can you suggest to break into the wedding circuit? Also, is there a standard fee? What is too much or too little to ask for the five-piece and duo? Do you think it would be weird for two guys to sing love duets at a wedding? (We've both got girlfriends.)

The Wedding Singer (I love the movie!).

Dear Wedding Singer,

Research will tell you what you need to know how to play. By the sound of your letter you are already doing it! Keep it up! There are traditional songs for weddings in most cultures, the traditional Australian one is "Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye" to be played as the bride and groom say their farewells to all the guests. Yes, learn some Jewish songs, also some Italian, Greek, etc. etc. If you want to play at weddings go to lots of them or talk to as many people as possible about what goes on at the weddings of various cultures.

Many people book their wedding band through agents, contact the Australian Entertainment Agents Association (www.aeaa.com.au) and ask which agents handle that sort of work in your area. Have a promo package ready including a demo recording (not full songs please!) to show to agents. This does not have to cost an arm and a leg, do as much of it yourself as you can. Computers and cheap colour printers make this reatively straightforward.

The Musicians' Union website has minimum award rates (www.musicians.asn.au), you should be charging well over these and allowing for any extra costs such as PA hire.

As for the love duets question, Uncle Terry has no comment.

Uncle Terry

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